


Seven Deadly Sins.

by darlingjongin



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Comedy, Crack, Ghosts, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-05-23 07:07:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14929547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingjongin/pseuds/darlingjongin
Summary: After the death of his grandmother, Kyungsoo is given her old house by the countryside. Leaving the city, he ventures to find himself in the midst of the strawberry fields and hills only to be found by seven ghosts who's been waiting for him in the dusted old house.





	1. One.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what this is but I found it in my drive and thought I should continue writing it to see where it goes.

 

* * *

 

 

_'I think he’s dead’_

_'If he were dead, he’d be floating around with us you doofus’_

_'Don’t call me that’_

_'Guys, I don’t see him breathing’_

_'Try kicking his chest’_

_‘Why the fuck would you kick his chest for?’_

_‘Wait… I think… I see his eyes fluttering!’_

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do Kyungsoo is a failure. More than a failure, he’s practically useless. It’s been a whole year since he graduated from University with a Social Science degree and all hope seems lost for him as he continues to be unemployed. At this point, any job would suffice for him, accepting part-time jobs in department stores and manual labour at construction sites. It wasn’t his dream job, but he needed money for the bills either way and he can’t be picky – not in this economy anyway.

‘Honey, are you sure you’re holding up well?’, he hears his mother’s worried voice over the phone, the same tone she used whenever she asks her son if he had gotten a full-time job yet.

‘Mum, I told you, I’m fine’, Kyungsoo whines, trying to suppress any more lectures his parents still had in them. His parents, unlike him, were travellers, missionaries and the ‘people of God’ is what they constantly say. They would usually travel the world and help people through charity since it was their ‘calling’. Kyungsoo wasn’t a religious person, nor was he much of a traveller, so he decided to stay in Korea, boarding in his college as he sends off his parents.

‘We’re praying for you’, she replies, which takes Kyungsoo all his strength not to throw the phone at the wall. Here we go again… ‘In the scriptures…’

‘Yes mum, I know what the scriptures say. Don’t worry about me and go save orphaned kids, okay?’, Kyungsoo stops his mother before she can delve any deeper, ‘And say hi to dad for me!’, he shouts over his mother, hanging up the phone and throwing it on the beat-up sofa of his parents’ old home that they left behind for him.

Kyungsoo is holding a takeaway box, sitting on the sofa and facing the small TV screen, watching the Winter Olympics with little to no interest, just staring at the moving screen since it was something to do. And this is how Do Kyungsoo’s life is like, waking up at the break of dawn and work his morning shift at the small family restaurant hoisted at the end of his road, having to run to the nearest station which was fifteen minutes way just so he can be on time for his other part-time job distributing flyers in the street, only shower his hair by the time he comes home around midnight due to his work at the construction site which always leaves dust and other matter in his hair. Despite coming home at midnight, Kyungsoo doesn’t fall asleep till around 3 o’clock in the morning, watching TV just so he can find the time to feel relaxed at doing nothing. It was later on that he found out he had insomnia. Doctors mentioned something about stress levels that Kyungsoo didn’t care for. He just paid for his prescription and left. Tonight, happened to be the night his pills ran out and he had no more money to keep buying them.

‘Seems like I’m going to have a sleepless night’, he whispers to himself, gulping his water down in one shot, looking at the highlights of today’s games. He didn’t pay much attention to it and it wasn’t until he finished his food did he bother to look at his phone which laid next to him, the flashing artificial light blinding him for a moment. He sees a red notification sign which leads him to a text message from an unknown number.

 

**_0987_ **

_To the guardians of Do Hee, please inform yourself to the Hospice._

Kyungsoo’s grandmother passed away that night. It was painless and through her sleep. It didn’t phase Kyungsoo at first since he hadn’t seen his grandmother ever since he was five, but the text shook him in action, making him stand to his feet, dropping his half-empty water bottle, eyes locked onto the screen which laid the address out for him. He grabs the nearest jacket his arms can reach, stuffing his keys into his pockets and running straight out of the house.

 

* * *

 

 

It took about three train rides and one taxi till Kyungsoo lands himself in the middle of nowhere, a station surrounded by fields with no form of communication or any kind of transportation he can use to find that goddamn hospice. He knew his grandmother lived in the country, where the fields and wheat were, a landscape which looked like it had been frozen for a century, not a site of anything remotely from the 90s let alone something from 2018. He looks around, seeing the morning break the midnight blue sky, the awakening of a new day. He scans for any early risers, speeding around the small station until he finds a receptionist idly sitting in her seat.

‘Excuse me’, he calls over, tapping on the counter, trying to gain her attention. She lifts up her head, a small and forced smile plastered on her face.

‘How may I help you?’

‘Um, do you have any idea how to get to this place?’, he asks her, unlocking his phone as he points at the address written in bold in the text message.

‘Oh, the local hospice? It’s just two blocks down’, she explains, pointing her finger towards the second exit of the station, continue to walk down until you see a statue of a dog, then turn left and you should be able to see it’, she gives him swift and simple directions, Kyungsoo bowing his head in gratefulness as he sets foot. The air was much cleaner here than in Seoul, so often his face being covered by a thin mask most of the day. He had to stop for a couple of seconds as he looks outside, the specks of gold flying out of the skyline and reaching the stars. He sees the road with no signs of cars passing through it and listens to the singing of the birds. He continues to move forward with a peaceful mind, maybe it’s the omnipotent presence of nature which surrounds him, but his once slandered mind turned tranquil despite the predicament he was in.

 

* * *

 

 

‘Mr Do, if you can please sign here’, the moment he stepped foot inside the hospice, ironically, no remorse was given to him, just a few reassuring words about life after death and how great his grandmother was. After a few hours revising with the doctors and nurses, he was already ushered into a room signing paper. The lawyers were itching their hands for Kyungsoo to hurry up and sign the papers since it seems his grandmother didn’t leave his parents nor him any of her inheritance, which meant it landed on the laps of lawyers and bankers.

‘Is this all?’, he asks the moment he finished, lazily looking around the white-walled prison he was in, two lawyers smiling beside him as they pack everything away in perfect precision, no paper scrunched and folded.

‘Yes, that will be all. Thank you for your participation Mr Do’, they bow to him one last time, briefcases on their hands, arrogantly resting beside them as they walk out, leaving him to aid his grandmother’s funeral by himself since his parents were still in Africa.

It came to a couple of weeks right after his grandmother’s cremation did Kyungsoo get another text message, this time from the lawyers. They had informed him of an e-mail they sent, a file which consisted of the one will his grandmother did write before she died. It was the ownership of her house, erected by the centre of a 100-acre field. The lawyers were drooling themselves over this piece of land, however, it seems as though their grips were loosened once they see a name, her grandson’s name, written as her next of kin, the hand which she had entrusted to care for the house and essentially the farm around it. Kyungsoo was on the fence about this sudden fate. He had always been a city boy, being born and growing up surrounded by busy streets, high rise buildings and walking past hundreds of new people every day. He wasn’t a big fan of the idea of living on a farm. But he remembered the first time he stepped foot in his grandmother’s hometown. He remembered the sudden feeling of soft wind kissing his cheeks and the melodious tune the birds would sing to him.

Kyungsoo quits all three of his jobs the next day.

 

* * *

 

 

The house is old. There’s no other way in describing it. It still looked strong and well taken care of since there were no signs of dust or self-destruction painted their way over to the building. The wallpaper was stained due to time, but it showed no sign of shedding. His parents called him time and time again, forcing him to rethink his sudden decision to pack up and leave for the country but Kyungsoo being Kyungsoo, didn’t listen to his parents. He managed to persuade them to at least sell the rotting house in Seoul, earning Kyungsoo enough money to maybe renovate the house or even start farming, he still didn’t know what to do with the money.

His feet meets the overgrown grass, walking forward to the house with the key in his hands along with the small luggage he brought along with him.

The curtains hanging from the window flutters, flowing in the wind despite the windows being locked closed.

_‘Is that him?’_

_‘I think so…’_

_‘Move out of my way, I wanna see’_

_‘Damn, he’s kinda cute’_

_‘Everyone is kind cute to you’_

_‘Everyone but you’_

_‘Suck a dick’_

_‘Shh! Everyone shut up! He’s coming in!’_

The wind made a noise, whispering against Kyungsoo ears as morning turns into afternoon. The door swings open.

Kyungsoo looks around the house once he steps inside, the dust flying around him, cobwebs decorating the corners of the walls along with withering wallpaper and bucket paint. Kyungsoo knew he had his work cut out for him, but he did construction work for a whole year, so he knows how to fix it up.

The house has never been more alive. Kyungsoo explores each and every inch of the house, from the basement, all the way to the attic, his hands brushing across the dusted tables, eyeing each room. His footsteps are loud, arrogant, as it stomps up and down the stairs, breathing in the slope of the wooden stairs, the handle carved in perfect Victorian fashion, along with bannisters, the paintings which hung meticulously around the withering walls and high rise of the ceiling, a dusted old chandelier also hanging on top of the living room, it’s usual shine no longer present due to the test of time.

Kyungsoo truly has his work cut out for him.

_‘What’s he doing?’_

_‘The real question is, what’s he wearing?’_

Kyungsoo has opened his luggage, a small one which he packed all of his life in with a few boxes of some of his stuff from the apartment, hauling them in by the front area of the house. He puts on a mask over his face and has taken out a plastic bag of newly bought cleaning equipment, from wipes to sprays and dusters.

_‘I think he’s going to clean the house’_

_‘It’s about fucking time. I haven’t been able to breathe living in this dumpster’_

It takes three full days for Kyungsoo to finish cleaning the house, mostly the basement and attic taking over his time as he dusts everything from top to bottom, opening every window and bringing in life to a once lifeless home, his eyes scanning around the piles of boxes which he didn’t know if he should throw away, thus concluding that he should just stack them up neatly so that he can at least move around the attic freely.

He glances inside the boxes once in a while, not being one to snoop around his grandmother’s personal belongings, yet he did find jewellery boxes, old photo albums, dolls and toys and other trinkets which had been collected over the many years of her life.

The basement was hell to clean, most of the time he had to buy dozens of cans of bug spray to get rid of the cockroaches and the growing mesh of spiders which lived in the damp area. He had a word with the local plumbers to fix the basement since it does get moist down there and Kyungsoo wasn’t a big fan of fixing internal problems himself. Although, he did have to strip the walls of every wallpaper, seeing the run-down walls which he had to repaint, which took another week.

Two weeks in and Kyungsoo still doesn’t feel at home. He feels more like a renovator more than anything, changing the rundown carpets into wooden floorboards, repainting every wall in all three stories including the attic and basement, selling old furniture that doesn’t look stable anymore and buying new ones which really pinched his wallet, dismantling the chandelier and cleaning every diamond before having to fix the light bulb.

He looks outside the window, not even wanting to look at the overgrown grass and wheat which had surrounded the house, the field at the back which was supposed to be a strawberry field his grandmother once cared for dearly, being a farmer, which produces fresh strawberry to sell to the farmer’s market.

He’s not going to fix all of that himself.

He decided to call a gardener instead, looking around on the old phone book for the town, scanning for a gardener.

‘You should call Kim Jongin’

Kyungsoo hears a voice from behind him, making him flinch, his head turning around in an instant, his eyes falling on a man in front of him, his face full of scars and his eyes dark black. He’s sporting an old traditional clothing and he looked hollow and dead.

‘Fuck!’, Kyungsoo screams, throwing the phone book at the direction of whatever he just saw, seeing the book fall straight through the figure and landing on the floor with a thud. Kyungsoo looks down on the book, then slowly back up to the figure in front of him.

Everything goes black.

 

* * *

 

 

_‘I think he’s dead’_

_‘If he were dead, he’d be floating around with us you doofus’_

_‘Don’t call me that’_

_‘Guys, I don’t see him breathing’_

_‘Try kicking his chest’_

_‘Why the fuck would you kick his chest for?’_

_‘Wait… I think… I see his eyes fluttering!’_

 

 

 

Seven ghosts crowd around the first human they’ve seen in years, their eyes wide and curious, observing his face as his eyes begin to flutter open.

‘Do you think he fainted because of me?’

‘Of course, he did. Look at you Baekhyun’, Junmyeon glares at him, ‘You look disgusting’

‘It’s not my fault I died like this’, Baekhyun whines, bending down and looking down at Kyungsoo, reaching his hand out, stroking his hair out of the way from the boy’s eyes.

They hear coughing sound, all of them taking a step back, cautious over the human’s every movement.

‘Do you think he’ll like us?’

‘I’m sure. He’s Minyoung’s grandson’, Junmyeon whispers to Sehun, the young prince still in his royal robes, a gash running across his neck with a small scar by his cheek, ‘Everyone, make yourself presentable, we’re meeting our new carer today!’, Junmyeon claps his hands together, his three-piece suit climbing up when he stretches his arms.

‘You know, for an alcoholic, you shouldn’t be bossing us around so much’, Chanyeol mutters, sporting an oversized Star Wars shirt, tracksuits and Nike shoes, his hair curled and pulled back with a headband. He looked straight out of an 80s exercise video.

‘I’m not taking orders from someone who died of overeating’, Junmyeon points back, looking back at Chanyeol who was much younger than him, despite the fact that they’re all ghosts and had stopped ageing once their time as a human had come to an end.

‘I’ve lost weight!’, Chanyeol bites back, ‘Look! My shirt doesn’t even fit me anymore! And I have to use strings to keep my pants together’

‘Oh, boo hoo, Mr eater over here is finally doing something he should’ve done when he was alive’, Jongdae points out sarcastically, his clothes being similarly elegant like Junmyeon, a three-piece suit, but with a pocket watch hanging from his suit.

‘Guys… I think he can hear us’, Yixing looks down to a now fully awake human, staring wide-eyed at them all, his black zoot suit on, his fedora hat resting on his untamed hair, ‘Hello human’ he waves at him, Kyungsoo flinching at the voice and screaming once again.

‘Ahh fuck!’, he yells, getting up from the floor and running straight out of the living room, wandering around trying to find the front door so he can run for his life and never come back in this stupid goddamn house.

He should’ve known this place was haunted. He should’ve realised it the moment the lawyers told them that the house hasn’t been touched for years ever since his grandmother was sent to spend her remaining years at the hospice.

He needed to leave the house, get on the next fucking train back to his old crummy apartment before it gets sold and never look back.

‘Where the fuck do you think you’re going?’, he feels something grip tightly on the back of his shirt, pulling him back into the living room, harshly throwing him on the sofa.

‘Now, now, Minseok, don’t be too harsh’, the man in a three-piece suit calms the General down, Kyungsoo noticing the Korean Military uniform that he sported, old and tarnish, covered in blood.

‘Who the hell are you guys?’, Kyungsoo breathes out, his hands shaking and eyes quivering. He looks around to see a group of ghosts looking strangers looking at him, surrounding him so he can’t escape.

‘Oh, how rude of us. Allow me to introduce myself’, the man who pulled the General steps forward, one hand in his pocket, ‘I’m Kim Junmyeon, a businessman and a dreamer’, he reaches his hand out to shake Kyungsoo’s. The latter looks down on it, seeing the sunken skin which doesn’t look alike anymore, ‘You can shake it, don’t worry’, Junmyeon urges on, Kyungsoo slowly reaching his hand to touch the cold ones, shaking it even though he’s still chilled to the bone.

‘This right here is Kim Minseok, General of the South Korean Military during the war. He’s a tough one’, he pats the General on the back, Minseok grimacing and giving him a dirty glare, one which made Kyungsoo uncomfortable scared of him, ‘That over there is Chanyeol. He died in the 80s, so don’t mind his fashion too much’, Kyungsoo looks across to where Junmyeon had pointed, seeing a tall awkward boy waving at him, his hair curly and ruffled, his arms stick thin against an oversized shirt he’s wearing.

‘That over there is Kim Jongdae. Like me, he was also a businessman-’

‘A company owner’, Jongdae corrects him, ‘I’m better than you’

‘Sure you are’, Junmyeon rolls his eyes, ‘And here is Yixing. He used to be part of a gang so his choice of clothing is a bit…’, he looks at Yixing up and down, the high waisted trousers and fedora hat looking over the top, ‘Just don’t be too fussed about it’

‘And I’m Byun Baekhyun’, Kyungsoo knows this ghost. He was the one who spoke to him when he as trying to look for a gardener. He still looks terrifying despite his smile. He didn’t want to look at him, so he turns his gaze back to the two men in a three-piece suit.

‘I told you he’d be scared of you’, Chanyeol snickers, crossing his arm and chuckling after he sees Baekhyun’s disappointed face.

‘Don’t worry about him’, Junmyeon points out, ‘He died like that, way back in god knows when’

‘1667’, Baekhyun informs Junmyeon yet again, ‘Which means I’m a couple of centuries older than you, so treat me with some respect’, the older ghost glares at them all, crossing his arms together and stomping his foot, ‘And it’s not my fault that I died like this!’

‘Is it not? Surely not being a hoe would’ve answered a lot of your problems’, Chanyeol points out, earning himself a punch in the stomach by non-other, Baekhyun’s long traditional brown robes flowing beside him every time he moves to punch Chanyeol.

‘Hello’, Kyungsoo flinch at the sudden voice beside his ear, turning around to see a boy with a huge gash on his neck waving at him.

‘Shit!’, he jumps out of the sofa, looking at the boy with his legs crossed on the sofa, wearing the same robes as Baekhyun, but more elegant, gold sewed in with, the old patterns of Korean royalty decorated around his silk robes.

‘I’m Prince Sehun from Joseon’, he waves again at Kyungsoo, his smile bright like a child’s.

‘Um… Hello?’, this is the first time Kyungsoo has ever spoken out to one of them, so they all freeze, slowly observing the human again.

‘Oh my god, he spoke to me’, Sehun celebrates, clapping his hands together and sticking his tongue out to the other ghosts, ‘I knew he’d like me most’

‘What the fuck is happening?’, Kyungsoo whispers to himself now that he’s got his mind wrapped around everything, spinning around to take a good look at each and every one of them, seeing their dark under eye circle, their fair skin, their translucent glow and their scars, ‘What the fuck is going on? Why am I suddenly being introduced to ghosts?’

‘Well, you see… We live here’

‘No, you don’t! My grandma lived here’

‘Yeah, that’s right and your grandmother’s been taking care of us for years now’, Baekhyun points out, leaning his arm on Chanyeol’s bony shoulders, ‘She made sure we were well fed and taken care of’

‘But’, Junmyeon interjects, ‘For the past couple of years, we’ve been on our own for a while, which is why we look like this’, Junmyeonc explains, ‘She promised us that when she leaves, she’ll give us a new carer and it seems like that position has fallen on you’

‘You better fuck off if you think I’ll be taking care of your dead asses’, Kyungsoo shouts back, pointing at all of them, ‘Now get out! This is my house now! Get out!’

‘We can’t get out. We were invited to’, Jongdae points out, leaning on the mantlepiece and readjusting his pocket watch which had stopped working in 1921.

‘Well, as the new owner of the house, I’m uninviting you!’

‘You can’t do that, that’s not fair’ Sehun pouts, still sitting on the sofa like a child rather than the prince that he says he is.

‘Fuck it’, Kyungsoo mutters to himself, racing around the house to find the box of his stuff, ‘I’m sure I packed a Bible in here somewhere’, he whispers to himself, opening up the different unpacked boxes, throwing out the candles and blankets and pillows he packed, trying to look for the small Bible his parents gave to hi, before they left for Africa, ‘Just you watch, I’m ganna make you disappear’, Kyungsoo wasn’t religious, he didn’t even think he believed in one, but my god, if ghosts suddenly exists now, he was sure exorcism wasn’t too far out of a stupid ritual anymore.

‘You know, we’re not demons. That’s not going to work’, Jongdae points out, rolling his eyes as he follows the human along, both hands in his pockets as he looks down to observe Kyungsoo’s frantic movements.

‘Fuck you! I’m calling on Jesus to make y’all fuck off’, Kyungsoo yells back, finally seeing the dusty old book, lifting it up and flipping through the pages.

‘He’s getting on my nerves’

‘Minseok, calm it’, Jongdae reaches a hand out to stop Minseok from punching the new human, ‘Think about Minyoung’s anger control technique’, he reminds the angry General, pulling him back before anything nasty happens.

‘I don’t know what kind of scriptures is supposed to get rid of ghosts’

‘Oh, what’s he playing with?’, Sehun finally enters the hall, leaning on Jongdae and looking down on Kyungsoo, ‘Is it a game’

‘The power of Christ compels you!’, Kyungsoo gives up, throwing the whole Bible at them instead, passing through Sehun’s stomach and landing on the floor.

‘What was that about?’, Sehun looks at Jongdae with an eyebrow raised, looking down at a defeated Kyungsoo.

‘Junmyeon!’, Yixing shouts the moment he sees Kyungsoo having a mental breakdown, pulling his hair and yelling out profanities, ‘I think our human is broken!’

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kyungsoo regrets leaving the city.

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 


	2. Two

* * *

 

 

 

Do Kyungsoo should probably call the shrink. He should probably sell the house and beg for his old jobs back. Maybe he could get a lodge here and start anew somewhere else, maybe be a shop assistant in one of the small family stores.

‘Kyungsoo, whatcha doing?’

He ignores the noises in his head – yes – he has persuaded himself that the clattering noises of pans, screaming, kicking, fighting and nonstop noises from every floor of the house is just all in his head. He blames it on the stress and the growing depression of not finding a permanent job.

He ignores his mind, walking down the newly polished wooden stairs, sliding his hand down the bannisters, looking across to find the once dusty rotten house to be close to brand new, the walls still smelt of fresh paint, bright colours of white painted over the once murky green wallpapers. He walks past the living room and into the kitchen, the old stove being replaced by a new owner, curtsy of the cash his grandma left with him along with the whole place, his eyes scanning on the new oven too.

This is so much better than his old apartment. So much better than his barely working microwave and a broken stove. The smooth white tiles are so much better than his old broken floorboard. He feels like a kid again, sliding around the spacious kitchen with his socks on, spinning around and letting the sunlight from the window kiss his skin.

‘That looks fun’

He flinches at the sight of the tall 80s abomination in the form of a ghost who calls himself Chanyeol, waving at him with his oversized shirt falling from his left shoulder.

He continues to ignore them, purely because he’d rather stay sane and block the ghosts who have been following him around all week prior to his decision that he was going to stay in this house no matter what. Of course, he has tried everything to get rid of them, he even called a Priest from a local church down by the main town hall, but nothing seems to work.

‘You know, you need to call someone to fix the front yard, look at it. It looks disgusting’, Jongdae groans, looking out of the living room window, his hair slicked up, shining with so much gel on it, ‘Hey, doofus. Are you listening to me?’

‘Don’t talk to me Mr Fitzgerald, you’re just in my head’, Kyungsoo’s voice booms across from the kitchen, the human turning around to start making his food, opening the newly bought fridge and seeing the pile of food laid out for him, giving him so much more options to eat then his usual ready meals he’d purchase at the end of the day. He reaches out for the beef, already getting the ingredients ready, his hands aching to make something delicious again.

Kyungsoo has always loved to cook, something he was brought up with since he was young and over the years he seemed to have been getting better. The only problem is, he stopped having the privilege to even enjoy the taste of food, let alone let his fingers run across the blade, cutting the fresh vegetables in sleek equal pieces, letting the aroma of fresh onion and garlic flow through the room, the pan boiling water and the noise of the gas running.

Because of Kyungsoo, the house is bustling back to life, many bystanders looking into the once abandoned house being lit from every room and window, the blaring of music from the sound system Kyungsoo had also purchased, music which flows across the whole house as he cooks for lunch.

‘Can it shut the fuck up!’, he hears something banging across the room, making him flinch once again, racing to where the noise is to see Minseok throwing something on the floor.

‘Hey! Hey, hey! I just bought that!’, Kyungsoo shouts at him, running to the living room to see a broken set of plates he had just purchased along with the new sets of glasses, ‘Give me that!’, he shouts, reaching his hand out to snatch the glass out of the angry General’s hands, ‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’

‘What the fuck is wrong with me?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!’, Minseok yells at him, his eyes glaring an intense expression that had Kyungsoo stumbling back, the initial fright he had over these ghosts coming back to him.

‘It’s all in my head. It’s all in my head…’, Kyungsoo whispers, closing his eyes once he sees Minseok take a step forward, lifting a hand in the air, about to motion a hit at Kyungsoo.

‘Minseok!’, Jongdae shouts at the General, racing his way over and grabbing the fisted hand before it lands on Kyungsoo, ‘What did we say about your anger?!’, he tells him off, ‘Breathe and count up to ten’, Jongdae orders him, bringing his hand down, ‘Now… Breathe…’, Jongdae murmurs, making Minseok follow along with him.

Kyungsoo looks at the two in horror, his body still tense. He noticed the music slightly lowering in volume, turning around to see Chanyeol playing with the remote until there’s no more music.

‘Sorry about that. He hates loud noises. Reminds him of the past too much’, Chanyeol points back at Minseok, more specifically, his uniform.

‘It’s all in my head…’, Kyungsoo continues to whisper to himself, hugging the glass as if it was his mother and moving back into the kitchen, closing the door behind him.

_I should probably get locks in every room from now on._

‘Heya’, he sees Baekhyun entering the closed room, his non-solid form passing through the door.

_What’s the fucking point?_

‘It’s all in my head…’

‘What’s the point of you doing that when you know full well what we are?’, Baekhyun questions the human’s behaviour, not quite believing that this was the Kyungsoo Min-young had been bragging about for years to them. He observes the way Kyungsoo placed the glass down on the kitchen island, going back to boiling the vegetables and stirring the broth, waiting for the beef to defrost a little before cutting the plastic packaging open, continuing with his cooking whilst mumbling the same five words to himself.

Baekhyun had realised that the human will continue to ignore them until god knows when, so he just leans on the island, watching Kyungsoo make food, his non-existent stomach growling at the sight and smell of the delicious meat.

‘What’s he making?’, he hears Sehun’s voice appearing beside him, the young prince curiously tiptoeing to get a closer look at the food, seeing the way Kyungsoo cut the beef and frying it, the sizzling noise making his mouth water, the smell of meat flowing through the room, ‘I want one’

‘I highly doubt he’ll give us one’, Baekhyun mutters, his lower lip pouting as Kyungsoo continues to have his back turned on them.

 

* * *

 

 

‘Aren’t you going to try and talk to him?’, Chanyeol looks over at Yixing who has come down to the living room, offering to play cards with a bored looking Jongdae, the pair of them sitting by the chairs next to the massive window, soaking up the sun and resting their arms on the small coffee table, looking at their cards, Yixing eyeing Jongdae’s small expression to conjure his next move.

‘I am not going to waste my precious time trying to prove myself to some nobody’, Yixing responds to Chanyeol, picking up another card and keeping a straight face.

‘Look, I know that you’re a little bit prideful, but you out of everyone has a better chance in trying to persuade Kyungsoo that we’re real’

Jongdae looks over at Chanyeol, the scruffy early twenties dude that died overeating, glaring at his statement.

‘Yixing? Is better than all of us? Pu-lease’, Jongdae snorts, going back to the game and discarding a card. Jongdae looks over at Yixing’s expression after picking up a card, trying to hide his smirk as he gains himself a full house; three queens and two aces, ‘Wanna bet?’, Jongdae allows his smirk to hang from his lips, leaning back in his chair arrogantly, his cheekbones prominent due to his slick back hair.

‘What do you wanna bet on?’, Yixing is lured into Jongdae’s trap, seeing the mobster slowly complying with Jongdae’s plan without knowing the outcome. Jongdae arrogantly throws his 1918 rare pocket watch, made from one of the greatest craftsmen of the 20th Century.

Chanyeol noticed Jongdae throwing his most prized possession on the table, his eyes widening as he races over to Jongdae’s side, trying to see why the guy was so smug.

Yixing took it in his turn to pull out a piece of jewellery he also owns, the Oppenheimer blue diamond ring, a 14.62 carat diamond, one of the largest and most beautiful looking gems anyone has ever seen in this lifetime, all in the possession of a dead mobster who stole it from his woman 77 years ago.

Chanyeol’s mouth gaped open, stretching his hand out to touch the diamond ring, perfectly polished, probably since Yixing has been taking care of it through the years, not a dust or scratched placed on it.

Jongdae can only glee at the sight of his prize.

‘Well, looks like your baby is coming home with me’, Jongdae chuckles, placing his card on the table for all of them to see, ‘Full house baby’, he cheers to himself, dusting off his shoulders and laughing to himself as he grabs the ring for himself.

‘Ah, ah, ah’, Yixing hold him off, pointing a finger at Jongdae to wait, ‘Not so fast’

Yixing also places his cards down for everyone to see, Chanyeol gasping at finding that Yixing also had a full house; three kings and two hearts’

‘Thank you’, Yixing smiles at him, snatching the pocket watch and fitting it perfectly in his pocket, grabbing the ring from Jongdae’s hands and also putting it back inside the pocket of his long coat.

‘You fucking…’, Jongdae pushes the table, hitting Yixing’s stomach and causing the flower vase to tip over and break, the water spilling on the newly down floor. Chanyeol quickly picks up the dying flower, taking a step back once Jongdae grabs hold of Yixing’s collar, their eyes glaring at each other, not one word being exchanged.

Chanyeol waits to see what happens, turning back to see if Kyungsoo is going to come back to see where the noise is coming from, not wanting to piss off the human even more.

‘Guys, can we please calm down? It’s just a game…’

‘You cheated, didn’t you?’, Jongdae hisses, his hands still gripping tightly around Yixing’s white button-down shirt.

‘Is it hard to get through your thick head that someone might _actually_ be better than you at something?’, Yixing spits back, the tension between the two rising, their eyes glaring in slits, hands fisted and ready to throw a punch.

‘Guys… Please…’, Chanyeol calls out again, staring terrifyingly at the door, not wanting Kyungsoo to see the broken vase.

‘Stop it! The both of you!’, Junmyeon bangs open the living room door, glaring at the two fired up men, hands o his hip, ‘We do not need three more motherfucking angry motherfuckers in this house, do you understand?!’, he shouts at the pair, stomping his way into the living room, the chandelier above him glimmering in light, ‘We have a human who won’t believe in us, a farm which hasn’t been catered for in three years and a fucking front yard which still looks like shit. If we wanna live like how we used to before Minyoung left, then we need to shut the fuck up and calm the fuck down, got it?!’, Junmyeon’s loud roaring can also be heard through the kitchen walls, both Baekhyun and Sehun looking at each other at the business man’s words of statement, their eyes gazing over Kyungsoo who also probably heard it too, but he showed no signs that he did.

There are a few more minutes of silence as Kyungsoo finishes stirring the stew together, adding all his ingredients and watching it boil before he heaves out a sigh, turning around to find two ghosts sitting on the kitchen island, Baekhyun’s tattered old peasant robes contrasting Sehun’s majestic silk.

‘What’s the name of the gardener again?’, Kyungsoo gives up, calling over the two ghosts who looks at him in surprise.

‘What?’

‘Are you talking to us?’

‘Well, who the fuck else am I talking to? My head?’, Kyungsoo sarcastically snorts. He couldn’t believe he was giving in and letting himself drown in insanity at the thought that ghosts actually lives in his apartment, ‘Now, do you want me to fix the front yard or not?’, this question in turns made the two ghosts jump to their feet, eager to fetch the phone book with the local gardener’s number.

 

* * *

 

 

‘Hello, my name is Kim Jongin and I’ve been called over here’, Kyungsoo opens the door at his first sight of a human, seeing the tan-skinned man smiling at him. He had dark hair which he combed back with his own fingers, the summer’s day blessing Kyungsoo’s sight to a man in shorts and no sleeves along with a side bag of gardening tools by his side.

‘Oh yes, right, come on in’, Kyungsoo snaps back into reality after relishing the view for a short moment, welcoming the boy in and flinching when he sees Baekhyun and Sehun leaning on the door side, ogling at the man. Kyungsoo gives them a warning look before closing the door, begging them to go away but it seems like the ghosts are either shit at reading expressions or choose to ignore his warning.

‘It’s been a long time since I’ve been in here’, Jongin speaks out, looking around at the front entrance, ‘It’s changed quite a bit’

‘Ah yes, well, I thought it might need a change’, Kyungsoo points out, walking towards where the gardener laid out his back on the nearest table, ‘I’m Do Kyungsoo by the way. I’m the grandson of-’

‘Mrs Park Minyoung, yes I figured, you look a little bit like her’, Jongin finishes his sentence, reaching his hand out to shake Kyungsoo’s, ‘Plus, she used to babysit me when I was little’

‘Oh, so you’ve always been a small-town boy?’

‘Yeah, all my life and in this small town’

‘You never even went away for college?’

‘Actually, I didn’t go college’, Jongin informs him, looking around to see such a drastic change in the house he used to visit when he was a little kid, ‘I decided to just pick up my dad’s business and carry on my life from there’

‘I see’, Kyungsoo nods, walking over to the living room and leaving Jongin be to do his job. It seems like the boy knows the house and its previous owner better than him, so he felt comfortable leaving him alone by the front.

‘He’s cute, isn’t he?’, Baekhyun woos, leaning his chin on the palm of his hands as he looks out of the living room window, catering his eyes at the sight of the young gardener already starting his work at the front, his hands gloved and picking up the weeds before moving the lawn.

‘Don’t even think about approaching him’, Kyungsoo warns the promiscuous ghost, pointing a warning finger at him, ‘I don’t want him seeing any of you’

‘Oh, don’t worry’, Baekhyun waves his hand in dismissal, ‘He’s never seen us before’, Baekhyun explains to Kyungsoo before disappearing from the living room, probably moving to the front yard to ogle at the man from up close.

‘Don’t worry about Baekhyun, he’s always had a thing for handsome men’, Sehun points out, flicking through some magazines before getting bored and grabbing the remote from Chanyeol, the taller boy pouting as the Prince changes the channel.

‘Aren’t you going to do anything useful other than lounge around the house?’, Kyungsoo calls out, looking at the way Sehun obnoxiously laid on the sofa as if it was his, leaning his head on his hands whilst he continued to flick through the channels.

‘Chanyeol can you please do something? Don’t just stand there and stare at nothing’

‘God why is the new human so fucking loud’, Minseok enters the living room with a bang, making Kyungsoo shut up in fright, his presence still dominant and intimidating that Kyungsoo quietens down at the sight of him, avoiding eye contact just in case Minseok tries to hit him again.

‘Calm down Minseok, you’re scaring him’, Chanyeol tells the General off, getting a move on and walking out of the living room, probably to find someone else to hang out with.

The air is tensed as Minseok walks around the living room, sitting on the other sofa and ignoring Kyungsoo just like how the human ignored them for the first week.

Kyungsoo leaves the living room, being too scared to entertain or tell off the General, walking over to the front entrance, looking out from the open door to find Jongin doing his job without being told what to do, pulling out the weed and beating out the dead soil. He felt himself immersing to the view of Jongin’s back, watching him work as the afternoon sun hits his skin.

‘I told you he was a pleasure to watch’, Baekhyun smirks, looking in and watching the human ogle at the gardener just as much as he is.

Kyungsoo gives him a glare back, not wanting to let Baekhyun relish in catching him off guard, walking back to the living and passing the other two ghosts as he enters the kitchen, fixing a cold drink for Jongin since the rays of the sun had made the summer day humid and slightly unbearable, so he can only imagine what the young man was going through now.

‘Oh, is that for me?’, Sehun points out as soon as he sees Kyungsoo holding a platter of cold drinks, ice cubes floating in the clear glass, the few that didn’t manage to break due to Minseok’s intense anger moments.

‘No’, Kyungsoo bluntly replies, earning a glare from the young prince, walking past them and back out to the front of the house.

Baekhyun cheers when he sees Kyungsoo stepping outside, skipping to his side before Jongin noticed him.

‘Kyungsoo, you should fuck him’

Kyungsoo almost tilts the platter on the floor.

‘Are you out of your goddamn mind?’, Kyungsoo hisses at the ghost, seeing Baekhyun smirk as he points back at Jongin.

‘He has great stamina. He’s not even breathing that heavily’

‘That’s because he’s only just started’, Kyungsoo whispers, pushing past the ghost and trying hard not to be heard by Jongin just in case he might misunderstand.

‘But still… Just imagine what he’d be like in bed-’

‘Hey Jongin’, Kyungsoo smiles, ignoring Baekhyun’s slimy advice, gaining Jongin’s attention, the gardener standing back up as he throws another handful of weeds into the pile, ‘Want a drink before you get started on the real work’

‘That would be awesome, thanks’, Jongin smiles, his skin glistening due to the sweat which begins to build over his body, his toned arms more prominent now with the highlight of sweat running down him.

_‘Delicious’_ , Baekhyun whispers from behind, making Kyungsoo bite the inside of his cheeks to stop him from screaming at the ghost right here and now.

‘How long do you think you’ll be finished with this?’, Kyungsoo asks once the gardener approaches him, handing him the cold glass of juice he’s made and seeing him gulp it all in one go, his Adam’s apple bobbing at the action.

‘Can you imagine _that_ around your-’

‘Two days?’, Kyungsoo continues to ignore Baekhyun, trying to keep up his conversation with Jongin.

‘Probably. Or three, depending if I like you’, Jongin smiles, a playful grin plastered on his face which made Kyungsoo blush unknowingly at his words.

‘Oh, and he’s a flirt’, Baekhyun whispers, sitting down on the ledge and swaying his legs since he was too short for his feet to reach the floor, ‘Go grab him now’

‘So, how old are you anyway?’, Kyungsoo changes the topic, taking an interest on the young-looking fella, walking away from Baekhyun and on the other side of the yard, looking at how Jongin went back to work once he finished his drink, bending down on his knees and pulling the other weeds in the remaining area.

‘Just hit twenty’

‘Oh’, Kyungsoo utters, mainly in shock since he thought that they were the same age.

‘Surprised? Do I look that old?’, Jongin chuckles when he turns to see Kyungsoo’s expression, changing his position so that he’s kneeling on the floor, kneading the dead soil out whilst pulling the weeds.

‘No, no. I just thought… We were the same age, that’s all’

‘How old are you then?’

‘Twenty-three’

‘Ah, so you’re older’, Jongin nods at the information, ‘Do you want me to call you mister? Or…’

‘Oh god no. Kyungsoo is fine’, Kyungsoo waves his hand in dismissal of formalities, not wanting to feel disconnected with Jongin.

‘First name basis. Good, keep it that way. We wouldn’t want him calling you mister when he goes down on yo-’

‘Anyway, I’ll leave you to it’, Kyungsoo claps his hands together, shouting a little louder than expected – to Jongin anyway – smiling down at the young gardener, ‘If you need anything, I’ll be in the kitchen’

‘Oh, and here I thought you’d be keeping me company all day’, Jongin playfully smiles at him, the same goddamn smile–

‘God, he’s so fuckable right now’, Baekhyun moans out loud, forcing Kyungsoo to depart from Jongin before Baekhyun’s words start to slowly take effect on him and he ends up thinking rash thoughts of the boy.

‘What’s going on?’, Junmyeon walks down the stairs, hands in his pockets and looking at the way Kyungsoo stomps back into the house.

‘He’s so damn despicable’, he growls to himself, slamming the living room door and leaving Junmyeon by himself, the suited man walking over to the front entrance to spot Baekhyun kneeling right in front of Jongin, no personal space and no sense of pride or dignity.

‘Baekhyun is so darn annoying’, Junmyeon whispers to himself, agreeing with Kyungsoo’s words as he closes the door, Jongin turning around to see a gust of wind slamming the front door shut.

Jongdae looks over at Yixing, seeing his pocket watch resting on the man’s jacket, Yixing’s fit lifted up and resting on the coffee table inside the living room, sitting next to Minseok as the rest of the ghosts apart from Baekhyun, chooses to rest their time in watching trashy television and reading books to past the time.

If Jongdae hadn’t been a ghost, he wouldn’t know what boredom feels like since he was always so busy with his life, but ever since his death, he had experienced long hours of uselessness, sitting around doing nothing, looking out at the same old view, doing the same old thing and talking to the same old people. The only indication that he once lived was in that pocket watch and he needed to get that back.

But he knew prideful Yixing wasn’t going to give it up easily. Not with his sleazy attitude.

‘Hey, Chanyeol’, he motions to the bored looking ghost, looking at his hands as he draws ugly cartoons all over himself, ‘Come here’, he motions a finger over to him, the latter standing up in excitement as he is given something to do.

‘What is it?’, he speaks out, looking at Jongdae with determined eyes.

‘I need you to steal that watch off Yixing’

‘Are you out of your mind?’, Chanyeol slouches his shoulders at the most absurd request, ‘I’m not going to die twice’

‘Look, you can’t die twice and plus what’s the worst Yixing can do?’

‘I don’t know and I’d like to keep it that way’, Chanyeol shrugs, going back to his seat and ignoring Jongdae’s orders for him to come back.

‘Don’t even think about it Jongdae. You know how violent Yixing gets when you jab at him’, Junmyeon, sensing Jongdae’s body language, walks over to him and hits him on the back of the head, ‘We don’t want to start another fight okay? We made the neighbours scream last time you two caused a ruckus here’, Junmyeon warns the grumpy ghost, fixing his tie and walking over the kitchen to where Kyungsoo is.

He had noticed that the boy had been trying to avoid them whenever he can, moving into the kitchen when the rest decides to reside in the living room and vice versa.

‘Kyungsoo, I’d like to speak with you for a moment’, Junmyeon calls out, making Kyungsoo jump at the sudden voice, his stern expression making hard for the human to avoid him.

‘What is it?’, he calls out, going back to his actions in peeling the fresh mangos he bought in the farmers market the other day.

‘I know your distaste towards us is still prominent, but Min-young said you were a friendly human’

‘Friendly human’, Kyungsoo laughs at the description, ‘The last time my grandmother saw me, I was five. I highly doubt she knows anything about me now’, Kyungsoo points out, piling the fruit skin to the side as he cuts up the mango, placing it on a small plate.

‘Yes, I do agree, time does change people, but you did come back here and accept to care for her house and field, I’m pretty sure nothing much has changed’

‘I chose this life because I barely had one before’, Kyungsoo points out, ‘She didn’t give me a notice about the ghosts living around in here, otherwise, I would’ve stuck with my three jobs in the city’

‘Three?’, Junmyeon smiles down, ‘You sure are ambitious’

‘Not ambitious, desperate’, Kyungsoo speaks out, ‘There’s a difference’, he puts the knife down when he finishes cutting up the fruit, ‘Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a _human_ I need to attend to’, Kyungsoo walks past Junmyeon, the latter feeling the gush of unwelcoming tone coming from Kyungsoo. He brings his hands down inside his pockets, looking down on his feet, slowly realising that it’ll take a lot longer for Kyungsoo to warm up to them if he ever does.

Kyungsoo should’ve probably stopped visiting Jongin at the front since every time he does, he always sees Baekhyun in the oddest position.

‘Kyungsoo! His back is so toned! You should feel it!’, Baekhyun is sitting cross-legged on Jongin’s back whilst the latter is applying healthy soil on the new clear ground.

‘Jongin, are you okay?’ Kyungsoo calls out, seeing the man stand up, unknowingly pushing Baekhyun off him, ‘Are you tired?’

‘Not really’, Jongin voiced out, although his heavy breathing was saying otherwise, ‘I never usually get tired easily, but my back’s been aching’, Jongin massages his back for a few seconds, standing up once Kyungsoo lifts up his plate of fruits, offering him some.

‘Have a break’, Kyungsoo sits down on the ledge, giving Jongin the plate of fruit, the gardener sitting on the dirt and taking off his clothes before picking a mango slice, ‘Thanks again, for doing this’

‘Well, I am getting paid, aren’t I?’

‘Yes, of course. I’ve already transferred the money in the account given to me and-’

‘Don’t worry Kyungsoo, I was just kidding’, Jongin grins at the serious man in front of him, ‘You’re different from Mrs Minyoung, more serious’, he points out suddenly, perking Kyungsoo’s interest.

‘How was she? I haven’t really seen her since I was five, so I don’t really remember…’, Kyungsoo scratches the back of his neck, feeling slightly awkward about asking a random stranger about his own grandmother.

‘She was always joking, never serious and always up for a laugh’, Jongin recalls, smiling at the small patches of memories which she fitted into, ‘She used to take care of me after school when my parents were still busy working. She was an absolute joy to be around’

‘You’re right… I’m very different from her’, Kyungsoo laughs, but Jongin shakes his head in disagreement, chewing on the mango.

‘Don’t say that. I think you’re also a joy to be around with’, Jongin dismisses his previous statement, making him feel slightly giddy at the compliment.

‘Ergh, just suck his dick already’, and of course, Baekhyun is right there, sitting across from Jongin and ruining the moment, ‘I bet you his dick is big’

Kyungsoo tries so hard not to roll his eyes and smack Baekhyun, biting the insides of his cheeks instead. He didn’t let Baekhyun make him uncomfortable enough to leave though. He had started to like Jongin’s presence and he didn’t want to leave just yet.

‘Is that Jongin?’, Chanyeol shouts, skipping out of the front steps and running towards the boy, ‘I haven’t seen him in ages, wasn’t he supposed to go college?’, Chanyeol shouts like he’s the only person living on fucking earth.

‘No, apparently he took over his dad’s business when he died in a car accident’

Kyungsoo gave the pair an _‘are you serious?’_ look, glaring at the two of them as they discuss such a sensitive topic about Jongin right in front of him. How was he supposed to act calm now that he knows that bit about Jongin?

‘Is there something in your eye?’, Jongin asks the moment he noticed Kyungsoo’s expression turn sour, seeing the latter’s brow furrowed, his jaws clenched together.

‘Oh, no… I’m fine’, Kyungsoo waves in dismissal, trying to get Jongin to ignore him as the two ghosts in front of him argue about nonsense, Chanyeol trying to find something to do whilst Baekhyun tries to push him back in the house and leave him alone to ogle at the handsome gardener.

‘Anyway, I heard around town that you’re planning to reopen the strawberry field at the back’, Jongin points out, dismissing Kyungsoo’s odd behaviours, ‘Farmer’s market is like the hair salon for guys. It’s where all the gossip comes from’, Jongin chuckles at his little joke, Kyungsoo smiling at his attempt to be funny.

‘Well, the news does travel fast’, Kyungsoo crosses his arms, ‘I’ve still got a lot of work to do and I don’t know if I need any workers to hire for the big jobs’

‘I’m sure you’ll do great. There are high school kids in need of a summer job anyway’, Jongin announces to him, ‘My little sister keeps on nagging on about how she needs a job too’

‘Oh, and here I thought you’d accept my offer for a job opening’, Kyungsoo plays back at Jongin, Baekhyun widening his mouth as he sees Kyungsoo flirting back.

‘I’m so proud of you’, he whispers, clapping his hands together, distracting Kyungsoo, his peasant robes getting caught on the torn branches that joined the pile of the weeds, making him fall face first on the dirt.

‘Oh, if only I had the spare time’

‘Can’t you give me your spare time’

‘Damn dude. This guy’s got some steam!’, Jongdae shouts, the living room window being opened as the ghosts peep out to see Kyungsoo’s interaction with the gardener, their heads resting on top of each other like the seven dwarves in Snow White, there eyes looking back and forth between Kyungsoo and Jongin.

‘Maybe. If you’re worth it’

‘Fuck him already!’, it was Sehun who shouts this instead of Baekhyun, his whining high-pitched voice ruining the moment Kyungsoo has tried hard to make between him and Jongin.

‘If only these stupid ghosts weren’t here, maybe Kyungsoo might have a normal conversation.

 

* * *

 

 

‘All right’

Kyungsoo looks around the kitchen, seeing all the ghosts gathered around, sitting on the mahogany chairs, their elbows leaning on the dining table, the white walls and white tiles making their fair translucent skin seem ghostly, Kyungsoo tapping his fingers on the wooden dining table, an old antique which he didn’t want to replace and was one of the few types of furniture which seems stable enough to keep.

‘What’s this all about?’, Minseok groans, fisting his hand and punching the table in anger, making Kyungsoo jump at the action.

‘Breathe’, Jongdae continues to remind him, patting him on the shoulder whilst eyeing the way Yixing nonchalantly leans back on his chair, playing with his pocket watch, opening it and closing it like a toy.

‘I guess… I’m here to… Set up a meeting’, Kyungsoo claps his hands together, gaining everyone’s attention back to him.

‘What is it?’

‘It seems like I’ve fully lost my mind and have embraced the fact that you’re all here… Living at my grandmother’s house… Even though you’re all dead’, Kyungsoo points out, even when the sentence comes out of his mouth, he’s still trying to have a hard time finally believing it with no excuses this time.

‘You’re finally deciding to acknowledge our presence? How wonderful…’, Yixing sarcastically claps his hands, ‘What a great achievement for all of us’

‘Stop it Yixing’, Junmyeon slaps the mobster on the back, ‘This is progress’

‘This is stupid’, Sehun rolls his eyes, leaning his head on his hands as he plays with the strings of his clothes, Chanyeol sitting right next to him, being the only ghost excited to hear Kyungsoo speak to them properly.

‘Anyway… it seems like I can’t get rid of you either, so we need to set a few ground rules…

‘Ground rules? Who the fuck do you think you are?’, Minseok yells at him, about to stand up, but as usual, Jongdae pulls him back down.

‘I said breathe, you dumbass’

‘What do you want to do?’, Chanyeol’s voice blares out amongst the rest of the arguing ghosts, his hair falling over his eyes and his shirt drooping from his shoulders.

‘Well, it’s pretty simple’, Kyungsoo avoids all contact, especially from the pissed off looking ghosts, ‘Leave me alone and don’t talk to me unless absolutely necessary’

‘And when is absolutely necessary to you?’, Baekhyun asks, lifting his hand up like a student, his robes sliding down his arm, showing his scarred skin, bloodied and gash.

‘I don’t know… When a burglar decides to come in?’, Kyungsoo thinks on the spot, ‘Just don’t come to me and start stupid conversations okay?’, he turns back to Baekhyun when he mentions about the last comment, ‘And _don’t_ keep speaking over me when I’m having a conversation with someone’

‘Gosh, this guy is so pissy’, Minseok mumbles, earning a nod from Yixing and Jongdae, but they’re still compliant, after all, Kyungsoo did fix up the house and has been somewhat of an entertainment to them for the past week or so, they didn’t want him to sell the place and leave.

‘All I’m saying is, I’m still human and I can’t cater to your every need’, Kyungsoo announces, ‘If you want to live here cause you have nowhere else to go, fine, by all means, do so, but that is not a welcoming offer for you to nab and stick your business in my personal life, got it?’, he points at every single one of them, waiting for them to respond to his one rule, ‘I said okay?’

‘Yeah, sure, whatever’, Jongdae waves his hand in dismissal, getting up and walking out of the kitchen, Yixing lifting his fedora hat which rested on his lap and following the man.

One by one, each ghost retire from the room, leaving Kyungsoo alone in the big kitchen, the smell of leftovers and Chinese takeaway filling the room since he ate quite a bit during lunch and dinner. Kyungsoo finally decides to retire as well, clearing up the dining table and wiping the crumbs and stains which has made its way over, due to Kyungsoo’s messy habits.

‘Excuse me…’, Kyungsoo jumps at the soft voice whispering behind him, making him clutch his chest at the sight of Chanyeol looking down at him with wide eyes.

‘Fuck… What do you want?’, Kyungsoo groans, still not getting used to the fact that ghosts don’t have footsteps and therefore can travel without even making a noise.

‘You said we’re only allowed to talk to you if it’s absolutely necessary’

‘Yes’

‘Well… Can I ask you for something?’

‘Do you need it?’

‘Yes…’

‘What do you want?’

‘Can you make me food please?’, the ghost’s request made him turn back, looking at the ghost up and down, his stick-thin figure being more prominent with the oversized clothes he’s wearing.

‘Ghosts don’t eat’

‘Yeah we do’, Chanyeol responds, lowering his bottom lip in a pout, ‘We have relatives who would usually present us food on our anniversary but…’, Chanyeol looks down on the floor, kicking his barefoot at nothing, hands playing with the strings of his sweatpants, ‘I haven’t been sent any food offerings…’

‘Ghosts aren’t going to die if they don’t have food’, Kyungsoo points out, ‘You just want something you know you don’t need’

‘But…’

‘Chanyeol, I’m really tired and I don’t feel the need to waste my time when I could just sleep’, Kyungsoo turns down the ghost’s plead, stamping his decision and sending Chanyeol off with his head hung low and his eyes drooping down. He didn’t mean to upset the ghosts, but today has been a rough and tiring day and it’s nearing midnight, showing all signs that he should probably get to sleep.

Kyungsoo doesn’t even know how to offer food to a ghost. Does he just cook it and hand it over to the ghost? Or is there a ritual? Usually, they’ll be needing at least a picture of the deceased and he doesn’t have that at all.

‘Ay, what am I thinking’, Kyungsoo whispers as he finds himself opening his phone and searching about rituals for your deceased loved ones. He decides to give up and puts his phone back in his pocket.

 

* * *

 

 

The aroma of warm stew, the mixture of garlic, spring onions and other seasonings filling up the kitchen, the kitchen lights being the only thing shining the room alive, the rest of the floors in pitch darkness as the night rolls in, the dark blue skies with the grey clouds covering the reflection of the moon, the winds of the night brushing the trees and leaves into a whistling noise.

Kyungsoo has just finished making his chicken stew, one he used to make when his college friends wake up in a hangover after a night of partying. He’s pretty much wasted a week’s worth of groceries in one day, but he looked at the pot with a proud expression, seeing the rising colour of the meat coming to life along with the mixture of spices he decided to experiment with.

He still didn’t know how to give Chanyeol a ritual, but he could at least try. He either needed something the ghost once owned or a picture of him to be able to pass a human object over to the in-between of living and dead.

Kyungsoo didn’t think Chanyeol would be a ghost carrying around his own personal shit, so he decided to go on Google.

 

_Lists of Korean Citizen deaths in the 1980s._

If the government was looking at his searches, they’d probably signal a red alert, but Kyungsoo pays no mind to it, scrolling through the different searches, seeing Buzzfeed unsolved videos of missing people and unsolved murder cases. Kyungsoo knew he was looking for something lighter, after being informed by Junmyeon that Chanyeol died in his parents’ home after overeating and combusting his stomach.

He tries looks around again, his eyes on the screen whilst his other hand was still stirring the stew in front of him. He had never had to click on the next page of Google’s search results, but here he was, on his fifth page, looking at different articles and seeing different websites with lists of people’s deaths.

_Ah._

Kyungsoo looks at the thumbnail of the website, seeing a wide range of pictures of the deceased that people found when they purchase an old house. The website was made up of blogs of people finding stacks of photos hidden in basements and attics, sharing it on the internet.

He recognised one picture. Not because of the face. But because of what the person was wearing.

It was the exact same clothes Chanyeol is wearing now, a retro Star Wars shirt with sweatpants, but this time, nothing was loose. The shirt barely fits him, and he can see his belly threatening to pop out of the sweatpants.

It was a huge contrast compared to Chanyeol’s stick-thin figure now, but if he squints a little closer, he can see Chanyeol’s evident facial structure, his small lips and big ears that stuck out to him.

‘Bingo’, he whispers, saving the photo before turning off the stove, the steam from the stew climbing up over the ceiling of the kitchen.

‘Chanyeol? Chanyeol?’, Kyungsoo opens the kitchen doors, hissing out his name, trying to be quiet just in case another ghost comes instead. He didn’t know where the boy is, so he calls out one more time, ‘Chanyeol?’

‘Yes?’

‘Oh shit’, Kyungsoo jumps when he turns around to see the ghost standing right in front of him, ‘You fucking scared me’, Kyungsoo hisses, closing the door and walking back in the middle of the kitchen.

‘What is it?’, the ghost follows him, skipping behind him as Kyungsoo opens a drawer and pulls out a bowl.

‘Didn’t you say you were hungry?’, Kyungsoo turns around, making eye contact at the ghost, seeing his expression turn from excitement to absolute bliss, his teeth showing as he grins wide, the corners of his lips stretching far out his cheeks.

‘You made me food?’, he asks since he didn’t believe the stern human would ever give him the time of day. Kyungsoo sees Chanyeol jumping around the kitchen, clapping his hands together when he looks over Kyungsoo’s shoulders, staring at the bubbling stew with glee.

‘Now sit down and keep quiet. I don’t want the rest of them finding out about this’, Kyungsoo warns Chanyeol, shushing the ghost and dimming the lights slightly.

‘I can’t wait’, Chanyeol sits down on the chair, his fingers tapping on the wooden table impatiently, ‘I haven’t eaten in years’

‘I can tell’, Kyungsoo chuckles, turning around and placing the bowl of stew in front of him, ‘I didn’t know ghosts can lose weight’

‘Nor can I’, Chanyeol pouts, ‘No one else seems to be losing any weight… Sehun died centuries ago and he looks fine’

‘Maybe it’s your curse?’, Kyungsoo laughs, unlocking his phone and showing Chanyeol the old tainted picture of an overweight man smiling in the photo, holding a peace sign, a little girl hugging his leg, her arms barely being able to wrap around them.

‘Where did you get that picture?’, Chanyeol tenses, whole body frozen as he sees himself for the first time in decades, his fingers slowly rising to touch the screen, the small picture bringing back memories he didn’t know was still in his head of his.

‘Took quite a lot of time to find, but if I was going to give you food, I needed a picture of you so…’, Kyungsoo observes Chanyeol’s expression, seeing it rise and fall, smiling when he looks down at the little girl but fading when he looks back up to himself.

Kyungsoo slides the phone by the food’s side, the screen still blaring the photo. He closes his eyes and says a small prayer he remembers saying in Church when his parents used to force him to go with them.

‘You should be able to eat now’, he urges the ghost to pick up the spoon, seeing Chanyeol slowly grip the spoon in his hand, shaking slightly as he lowers it.

He lifts the spoon and there it was, the stew resting on the cutlery. Chanyeol didn’t waste time and sipped it, flooding his taste buds of the savoury touch of onions and garlic, a deep sigh breathing in as he relishes in the old feeling of eating.

Next thing Kyungsoo sees, Chanyeol has dropped the spoon, lifting the bowl instead and gulping the stew in one go, picking up the chicken with his bare hands and stuffing it all in his mouth until he looked like a chipmunk eating, his cheeks enlarged. Kyungsoo couldn’t help but laugh at the feral way Chanyeol was eating, but he couldn’t blame him. He’d probably hate to be a ghost who can’t eat.

He couldn’t help but feel sorry for him, his clothes tattered and too big for him, his skin white, too white too look alive.

‘God, what am I going to do?’, he hears himself whisper, crossing his arms and watching the ghost engulf his meal in one go, the dining table a mess of chicken bones, drops of stew which slid down his chin and onto the table, Kyungsoo had to clean the table again and do the dishes. And it’s 2.34am.

He just hopes that the other ghosts don’t ask him to cook for them too.

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 


	3. Three.

 

 

 

_ chapter three. _

 

 

 

 

Kyungsoo wakes up in the middle of the night with the loud thudding followed by a crash sound. He sits up immediately, too fast that his vision became blurred and static.

 

‘It’s Minseok again’

 

Kyungsoo almost pissed his pants when he sees the dead prince sitting on the end on the bed, cross-legged and still in his heavy royal robes covered in dried blood. His pale face and dead eyes didn’t help Kyungsoo who had to stare at him almost every day.

 

‘God’ Kyungsoo whines as he clenches his chest, trying not to have a heart attack ‘You scared the shit out of me’, Kyungsoo closes his eyes, finally getting his vision back and standing up from his bed his feet hitting the cold wooden floor. It’s the middle of winter so the whole house is freezing, Kyungsoo having to grab his blanket to wrap around himself before he goes down the flight of stairs to see what the hell was going on.

 

It’s dark and he almost missed a step, his eyes trying to adjust to peak blackness, his arms outstretched, stoking the wall and trying to look for the light switch.

 

‘Fucking dick’, he hears Minseok’s deep growling, something which still scared him till this day despite living with the angry ghost for a couple of weeks now. The light in the living room finally switched on, Kyungsoo’s eyes squinting over the sudden light with sheds vision on the landscape that has his mouth open in shock.

 

Jongdae is hanging on the chandelier, a noose tightened around his neck, his mouth gaping open and his eyes bloodshot red from the tightness of the rope which squeezes the life out of him. His skin is still translucent, but it suddenly had colour, a raging pink.

 

‘What is going on?!’, Kyungsoo closes his eyes, not wanting to see Jongdae like that instead turning to see Minseok grabbing another vase and aiming it at Jongdae, ‘Hey, hey, hey!’, Kyungsoo runs up to the General and grabs the vase before he throws it, ‘I just bought that!’

 

‘Jongdae you fucking dick!’, Minseok continues to scream at him, his eyes raging, his hands tightening into a fist. Kyungsoo is about to ask Minseok what was going on when he hears laughter behind him, loud and almost screaming. He turns to see Jongdae, still hanging from the chandelier but this time he was laughing, clapping his hands together as he points at Minseok.

 

‘You’re such a pussy’

 

‘What?’, Kyungsoo looks back and forth between Jongdae and Minseok and it seems like none of them gives a shit about the fact that Jongdae is hanging like that.

 

‘You know I hate seeing that!” Minseok shouts at him, pushing past Kyungsoo who was still wrapped in his blanket. He tries to race forward but it was too late, Minseok was already tugging at Jongdae’s legs, spinning him around the chandelier.

 

‘Stop that! Stop it!” Jongdae whines kicking at Minseok, ensuring a fight with the wrathful ghost. Kyungsoo didn’t know whether to intervene or get back to bed.

 

‘Minseok hates seeing how we all died’, another voice comes into the room, Kyungsoo flinching as he sees Junmyeon standing beside him in his suit, his hand in his pockets, ‘he hates seeing dead bodies in general’

 

‘Okay…’, Kyungsoo can only reply. He didn’t know what to do with the new information other than looking oddly at the way Jongdae continued to laugh whilst still hanging like a dead man, kicking Minseok in the process.

 

‘You’d think for someone who killed himself, he would be less cheery’, Yixing appears suddenly, standing right next to Junmyeon and looking down on the pocket watch which had stopped working since 1920.

 

‘He killed himself?’, Kyungsoo asks and by the looks of the noose wrapped around his neck, he felt foolish for realising it too late.

 

‘His company went down after he made some shady business to try and take down his rival. He lost everything’, Junmyeon tells Kyungsoo, the three of them staring at the two fighting, Jongdae now untying the noose around his neck and jumping on Minseok.

 

‘Including his family’, Yixing adds on, ‘He was too busy trying to have everyone else’s shit that he forgot about his’

 

Kyungsoo didn’t know if he could feel sorry for Jongdae. Everything that happened to him sounds shit, but it was his envy that brought him to his demise, nothing more than a selfish businessman powered by money. How did that do him in the afterlife? Nothing since he had to live with six other useless ghosts under a roof that didn’t even belong to him.

 

‘I’m going back to bed’, Kyungsoo sighs, realising that he woke up for nothing and that he had less than two hours of sleep before he needs to get up and tend to this stupid house.

 

 

‘You look tired. Are you okay?’, Jongin asks when he enters the front entrance, seeing Kyungsoo’s dark under eyes as soon as he opened the door. The short boy shook his head in response and guided Jongin into his kitchen.

 

‘Ooh, Mr Hunk is back’, Baekhyun instantly straightens up his posture as soon as the gardener walks into the kitchen, elbowing Chanyeol to get out of the way as he skips towards him. Kyungsoo glares at Baekhyun pointing a finger for him to back off. Baekhyun had a thing for Jongin, Kyungsoo knows that and he wishes the ghost didn’t tire out the oblivious human.

 

‘So, what do you need my assistance for? I finished your front yard last week’, Jongin asks, sitting down on one of the kitchen chairs unknowingly choosing the one right next to Chanyeol. The tall ghost looks at the gardener up and down also admiring the muscle and tanned skin he was sporting, looking to himself to find his skinny and pale figure disgusting in comparison. Kyungsoo goes over to the fridge and offers Jongin a glass of water.

 

‘I actually need your knowledge this time’, Kyungsoo smiles, ‘I’m planning to reopen the strawberry fields and I wanna know if there’s someone willing to fix it up for me first. The soil is infertile, there are weeds and other pesticides lurking around too, I noticed it’ – that was a lie, it was more like Sehun noticed it when he was running away from Kyungsoo who had forced him to help with the basement and he slipped on the weed.

 

‘Well I’m sure my team can work on it’, Jongin replies, taking a sip of the water, ‘It’ll be a pleasure to come back here next week’

 

‘A pleasure indeed’, Baekhyun moans as he leans on Jongin’s back and rests his head on his neck. Kyungsoo stands up once he sees this, trying not to look suspicious as he grabs a grape resting on the fruit bowl and throws it on Baekhyun – but the grape nearly passes through Baekhyun’s non-solid form.

 

‘What was that?’, Jongin, who just looked up at the sight of something small coming at him, turns around and looks down to see the grape ‘Did you throw that at me?’

 

‘No’

 

‘Liar’, Baekhyun whispers to him, making Kyungsoo glare at him again when he sees Baekhyun playing with Jongin’s hair his fingers intertwining. Jongin felt something and scratches his hair, unknowingly touching Baekhyun’s hands in the process.

 

‘Oh look! He’s holding my hand!’, Baekhyun yells at everyone in the room, Chanyeol rolling his eyes and standing up, deciding to retire to the living room to where everyone else was instead. He didn’t know why he hanged out with Baekhyun, most of the time all he ever did was talk about sex or something Chanyeol had no interest in.

 

‘Can you maybe help me advertise for some workers too? I don’t think I can actually farm’, Kyungsoo tries to dismiss Baekhyun’s existence focusing on Jongin instead who smiles warmly at him.

 

‘It’ll be a pleasure’

 

‘Everything is a pleasure with you’, Baekhyun sighs but this time, Kyungsoo had already walked over behind Jongin’s and pats his back aggressively, surprising Baekhyun who slides out of the way. The poor gardener, however, felt the strength of Kyungsoo’s pat, almost making him spit out the water he was drinking.

 

‘Thanks, man!’, Kyungsoo hits Jongin so it doesn’t look obvious that he was trying to get a clingy ghost off him, ‘I really appreciate it’

 

‘Okay’, Jongin laughs, placing the cup down on the counter and turning around, ‘Don’t kill me before then’, he jokes, the pair of them laughing.

 

 

* * *

 

 

‘Does Kyungsoo have a thing for Jongin too?’, Sehun peeks through the door to see the two humans interacting with each other. Unlike the other ghosts, Sehun barely interacts with the human since he found Kyungsoo quite scary when he’s awake. He spends most of his night sitting by the end of the human’s bed though, just looking at how he breathes, the calmness of his chest, face relaxed and lips slightly parted. He likes to see how human Kyungsoo can be even when he’s asleep.

 

‘Everyone has a thing for Jongin’, Yixing responds whilst reading the newspaper, licking the tip of his finger as he turns the page.

 

‘Go to them and see’, Jongdae suggests, sitting five feet apart from Minseok since Kyungsoo sat them down this morning and told them they are not to be any closer. Than five feet since last night’s fiasco.

 

‘No, I’m good’, Sehun shakes his head his robes touching the ground as he spins and walks back into Kyungsoo’s room.

 

‘How heavy do you think is his robes?’, Jongdae asks Yixing but the gangster just shrugs his shoulders, not caring.

 

‘I see him struggle to walk around it sometimes, especially when walking up the stairs’, Junmyeon apparates in, just in time to hear Jongdae’s curiosity over the royal ghost.

 

‘Too bad he had to die like that’, Jongdae replies, ‘I’d rather die like this dude’, he shoves Chanyeol’s shoulders as soon as the ghost sits down next to him, ‘Look how comfy his clothes are! He’s in his pyjamas!’, Jongdae laughs, tugging at the oversized shirt Chanyeol was wearing.

 

‘It wasn’t comfortable at the time! I was overweight and even this didn’t fit me!’, Chanyeol argues, not liking the fact that it was him who was in Jongdae’s list to bully. Everyone else in the room wore something elegant, something that Chanyeol had been envious of. Yixing, Junmyeon and Jongdae in their suit and tie, looking like they belonged, looking like they were important. He turns his gaze to see Minseok, the General in his Military Uniform, bloodied and disgusting, but still fierce looking. He also couldn’t forget Baekhyun and Sehun, two ghosts wrapped in silk robes and golden chains. It feels like Chanyeol was a hobo compared to them and in a sense, he was. A body found in a run-down motel room was not something Chanyeol was most particularly proud of.

 

The five ghosts stay seated inside the living room when Kyungsoo opens the kitchen doors and guides Jongin back into the entrance. They saw the way Jongin hugs Kyungsoo though it didn’t seem like the latter was asking for it. Even Minseok’s eyes stayed focus on the way Jongin’s hands just lingered on Kyungsoo’s waist before he leaves the house.

 

‘The real question is… Is Jongin interested in Kyungsoo?’, Yixing asks, whistling when they felt some kind of tension between the two humans.

 

* * *

 

 

‘Can Sehun come with you?’, Junmyeon asks when Kyungsoo announces to the whole household that he was going shopping and might not come back till the evening. Junmyeon had felt this urge for the two to get close ever since he found out that Sehun would regularly visit Kyungsoo’s room at night. The prince probably wanted to be friendly with the human but gave up when Kyungsoo showed signs of restraints in their existence but now that the human was getting used to them, it seems about the right time that the two actually spoke.

 

‘Why?’ Kyungsoo whines, seeing Junmyeon blocking the door. He takes off his earphone and looks at the ghost in question, ‘Why would I want to drag a ghost out of the house? Isn’t that impossible?’

 

‘Who says?’

 

‘I don’t know… the ghosts in Beetlejuice couldn’t leave their house’

 

‘Are you basing what ghosts can and can’t do to a Tim Burton movie?’

 

‘Oh? You’ve watched it?’, Kyungsoo tilts his head ‘I thought you died in the 60s’

 

‘I obviously watched it when I was a ghost – look that’s not the point’, Junmyeon waves his hand, trying to dismiss the conversation, ‘Sehun’s been feeling glum and not talking as much and maybe some fresh air will do’

 

‘Really? Do ghosts use that trick too? Let me tell you something, that trick is useless on humans and I don’t think it’ll work on ghosts’

 

‘Just do it’, Junmyeon’s raises his voice and this made Kyungsoo flinch. The businessman looks stern and angry and something Kyungsoo doesn’t want to fight anymore so he quickly turns around to where the open living room is and sees Sehun peeking in the corner.

 

‘Sehun come here before I change my mind’, Kyungsoo calls out for the prince and he suddenly sees the ghost running towards him, his royal robes flying behind, the golden belt around him jumping up and down too.

 

‘Where are we going first?’, Sehun asks excitedly, trying to clap his hands together but the sleeves of his robes got in the way.

 

‘The fish market’, Sehun’s face turns glum at Kyungsoo’s response but he follows Kyungsoo anyway just in case the human does end up changing his mind.

 

* * *

 

 

Taking a ghost to the fish market sounds tiresome. Now, taking a five-century-old royal ghost is worse. Sehun made sure his translucent form didn’t cause too much of a disturbance in the small and compact space of the fish market. Kyungsoo would often get lost by the sound of sellers shouting prices and buyers negotiating. The smell of fresh see and fish was clear in the air but Sehun was more disgusted on the fishers who would gut the fish right in front of everyone, slicing the fish’s stomach from head to tail, pulling at its guts and intestines whilst washing the insides with cold water and dumping them back into a freezer behind them. Sehun stood and watched the fishermen with a mixture of awe and disgust, his eyes following the knife as its once shiny figure is covered in blood. He forgot about Kyungsoo who was moving along, trying to negotiate with an old lady about the price of the crab.

 

The fisherman was consistent in his movement, sharp and robotic like he could do it with his eyes closed. It reminded him of the time he used to be alive. He was never allowed out of the palace, especially being the young spoilt prince. He never had to feel or see hardship before, which resulted in his itch to explore, the gnawing curiosity which can never be cured by the millions of books he read whilst being confined inside the palace walls doing absolutely nothing. He visited the town that was nearest to the palace. It wasn’t so much as a town but a small area where the staffs lived. Only the most elite of staffs and governors can live inside the palace, the rest of the workers, mostly the cleaners and cooks, lives in a small area down by the river. They were allowed to have their immediate families live there too so the small area unconsciously grew into a new village.

 

Sehun was young at the time, no more than thirteen summers old. He had successfully slipped past his older brother’s watch when he got distracted by a bunch of court ladies. A few jumps from the trees and out of the walls was all it took for him. He didn’t waste another minute as he walks down the forest which surrounded the palace, the trees taller than he was. He smelt the sweet essence of figs and can hear the running of the stream of water which guided him into the small area. He was sure to stay inside the forest, his fingers resting on the fresh bark of the tree, but his eyes peered onwards, resting on a few groups of men kneeling in front of the river stream with straw woven bags beside them. Sehun saw them slicing a fish in half, washing the insides off with the water whilst throwing out the bodily fluids that came out of the dead creatures on the grass beside them. Sehun didn’t like that. He didn’t like the way they were hurting the poor animal, but he was still intrigued so he kept on watching. They were all his brother’s age except one. He sees one boy who was his age but still just as talented in cutting the fish open. He was faster, more precise and never once broken the fish in half whilst cutting it open whilst others had to waste good fish due to their wrong precision. The boy was skinnier than he was, his hair long and tied in a ponytail which falls at his waist. He didn’t put it in a bun like the others. Sehun reached up and touch the golden hairpin which ties his hair up and out of his face. It has always been tight around him, they always tie it too tight until his roots were breaking, and his head would ache in the middle of the afternoon. He had always wondered how it felt like to have his hair down.

 

‘Sehun! There you are!’, the young prince is brought back into reality at the sound of Kyungsoo’s voice tugging him back from his daydream. He turns around to see the human rushing back to him.

 

‘I thought I lost you’, Kyungsoo hisses at him, trying to sound like he wasn’t talking to Sehun since he knew the others can’t see him.

 

‘I was looking at the man killing the fish’, Sehun points a the fisherman to which Kyungsoo sighs.

 

‘Okay, okay, but come on know. We gotta go’, he says once more with a tight lip, looking around to see if anyone’s noticed that he was talking to himself. He felt relieved when he sees that everyone was too busy minding their own business and shopping to pay too much attention to him. Kyungsoo looks down to see Sehun’s robes touching the wet ground. He looks up to see Sehun struggling to lift it up, the weight of the silk and the gold metal was too much for his strength. Kyungsoo felt sorry that the ghost had to have the most inconvenience of clothes but he did admit, it looked beautiful despite it being covered in blood and slightly ripped around the edges.

 

‘Okay, where else do we need to go?’, Sehun asks, still excited to see where the human was taking him since it’s been his first time out of the house in years. He remembered Kyungsoo’s grandmother would often take him to the park for a walk or the farmer’s market to smell the fresh greens, ‘Are we going to buy more food?’

 

‘Maybe, but first, maybe we can see what we could do about that’, Kyungsoo looks at Sehun up and down, ‘Do you know where your shrine is?’

 

‘My shrine?’

 

‘Yeah. You’re Prince Sehun, the twelfth prince of Joseon. I’m sure you have a shrine somewhere… I read it during my history class’

 

‘History class? Do people teach about me?’, Sehun’s eyes glowed in excitement at the thought.

 

‘They don’t focus on you per se… They mainly focus on the faction’s war and the peasant’s rebellion which caused your family to be beheaded and a new King to the throne’

 

‘Oh…’, Sehun looks down to the ground, seeing the dirt on his robes as it hits the floor. They only ever remember that story.

 

Kyungsoo should’ve been more excited to have met royalty, especially royalty that he learnt in history over and over again. Sehun’s family were a significant figure in Korean history, but Kyungsoo would have much preferred to have met the Crown Prince who was the head General of the military. He never learnt much about Sehun because the youngest prince didn’t do much. He was known to suck the funds straight out of the worker’s taxes to spend on parties and luscious food and when the royal family faced the rebellion, he just fled the palace, only to get caught and beheaded. Kyungsoo had no interest in the boring prince at all.

 

‘Anyway, I’ll Google where your shrine is so we can get you some clothes’

 

‘Clothes… For me?’, Sehun looks back up and stared at Kyungsoo, tilting his head in confusion, ‘You’re going to get me new clothes?’

 

‘Yeah… It looks like a pain for you to walk around in that’, Kyungsoo chuckles, walking out of the fish market and into a much quieter space where the parking lot is, ‘You know for an era known for its enlightenment, you guys sure know how to have inconvenient fashion.

 

‘Royalty doesn’t normally move a lot or do anything physically taxing so wearing this back then wasn’t that bad’, Sehun points out, walking step by step and seeing his silk shoes which had lilies woven on it. It’s a washed out blue now but before it used to be right and shining, comfortable to the feet.

 

‘Yeah well, isn’t that what got you into trouble?’, Kyungsoo points out and its something that Sehun didn’t really want to talk about. It’s been centuries since it's been mentioned and decades since he’s talked about it with the other ghosts when they first met.

 

‘Yeah, I guess so’

 

 

* * *

 

 

‘So, which one do you like?’, Kyungsoo walks into the shopping mall, which was smaller than the one in the city and with not many shops that he knows of. He’s seen familiar high street names and he thought he’d stick with that rather than a family owned store which probably sold second-hand clothes that no one wants to use.

 

‘Oh, I’ve always liked the idea of looking like Junmyeon… Or Jongdae!’, Sehun skips into the shop, surprised at the automatic door and the loud music playing. He sees so many clothes and in all different colours, he was just aching to try them on.

 

‘Just pick one outfit then we can leave’, Kyungsoo gives him an order before walking off and searching for something new to add in his closet. He didn’t want to follow Sehun since he might end up talking o him a bit long for someone to notice and that’s one thing he’d rather not do. He looks at the clothing, preferring the dark monotonous colours which fit his style better. Black turtleneck, dark green bomber jacket, ripped black jeans – that should add as a pretty cute outfit for Autumn. Kyungsoo was too busy trying to picture and outfit together, he didn’t notice the man standing behind him and patting him on the shoulder.

 

‘Oh shit Sehun you scared me’, is what Kyungsoo says when he felt the tap on his shoulder, but when he turns around his eyes did not see Sehun but a tanned skin man in short sleeves and a leather jacket along with distressed jeans, ‘Oh shit, Jongin?’

 

‘Sehun? I didn’t know you were with someone’, the gardener smiles at him, looking around to see who could be accompanying Kyungsoo.

 

‘Oh… No, I’m not with anyone right now… That was just reflex’

 

‘You call people by a different name on reflex?’, Jongin asks, tilting his head and laughing at Kyungsoo who just pouts at the jab.

 

‘I mean everyone has a weird reflex’

 

‘Do they now?’

 

‘Yeah they do’, Kyungsoo tries to argue, but he was caught off guard when he sees Sehun and more so the clothes that were hanging on his arm which looks fine to Kyungsoo but he knew to everyone else’s eyes, those clothes are just flying by themselves.

 

‘So, how are you?’, Jongin asks, his elbow leaning on one of the shelves with neatly folded pyjamas resting on them. Kyungsoo was silent in giving an answer as he was too busy looking around to see if anyone had noticed and thankfully there was only one other person in the shop apart from the staff which was an old lady picking out her lingerie and Kyungsoo didn’t want to be mean, but if she ever sees the floating clothes and screams, they can always conclude that she was seeing things due to old age so he didn’t have to worry too much. The only worry he now has is the staffs. If one walks out of the storage room and sees this, then Sehun is dead meat.

 

‘Kyungsoo?’, Jongin asks again, this time snapping his fingers in front of Kyungsoo to gain attention.

 

‘Huh? What did you say again?’, Kyungsoo asks, turning his vision and attention back to Jongin.

 

‘I was asking how are you?’

 

‘Oh I’m fine’, Kyungsoo smiles, a little too hard since Jongin had to take a step back at how weird Kyungsoo was acting.

 

‘Are you sure you’re okay?’

 

‘Uh huh’, Kyungsoo nods but his eyes weren’t looking at Jongin, it was too busy looking at Sehun who was now carrying a shopping bag to place all of the clothes that he bought. Now it looks like the bag was floating with clothes being thrown inside it, ‘Can you give me one second’, Kyungsoo smiles at Jongin before racing forward to where Sehun was, hitting his hands so that the ghost whines and lets go of the bag, making it drop to the floor.

 

‘Kyungsoo?’, he turns around to see Jongin approaching him, ‘What was that?’

 

‘What was what?’

 

‘It looks like you dropped something’

 

‘Oh… Oh no… I was just… Looking for my lost shopping bag!’, Kyungsoo lifts the bag that he grabbed from Sehun, ‘I knew I was missing something!’, he laughs, fake and forced which makes things uncomfortable with Jongin.

 

‘Haha…’, Jongin also laughs awkwardly, scratching the back of his ear, ‘You know, I should probably go now…’

 

‘Oh… Oh yeah sure’

 

‘I’ll see you next week?’

 

‘You bet’, Kyungsoo clicks his tongue and finger guns Jongin in the tackiest way possible.

 

‘What was that?’, Sehun whispers behind him, also knowing that how stupid Kyungsoo looks. Jongin just laughs it off and waves a goodbye to Kyungsoo, leaving the shopping mall and Kyungsoo to himself so he can shiver in embarrassment.

 

‘I hate you’, Kyungsoo whispers as he drags his feet to the cashier to end this day of stress once and for all.

 

‘Hey, what did I do?!’

 

 

* * *

 

 

The old palace – and Sehun’s old home – was no more than forty minutes away by car so Kyungsoo didn’t mind driving all the way there to offer Sehun some new clothes since the poor prince had been wearing the same thing for god knows how long. The stupid robes got stuck in between the car doors when it closes and Kyungsoo had to open the doors again and fold the robes to stay inside the car.

 

‘You know I always wonder. Why do you sometimes have no solid form but sometimes you can interact with living objects? Like your robes getting stuck or you being able to pick up the shopping bag?’. Kyungsoo asks as they turn a street and into a highway.

 

‘It’s because we’re in the in-between’

 

‘The in between?’

 

‘Of life and death. Life is where this is, a place of humans, animals and nature. We’re also a piece of life so we can interact with it, but then we’re also dead, which means sometimes we can’t. Our interactions are very limited. The line between life and death is very thin that rarely anyone can stay in between’

 

‘But you guys can’

 

‘That’s because we’re ghosts. We’re dead but we’re still threaded into the dimension where life exists. We’re stuck.’

 

‘Are all ghosts like that?’

 

‘There are no other ghosts’

 

‘What?’, Kyungsoo turns to look at Sehun’s face, serious and stricken, pale. Kyungsoo noticed the gash on his neck too, when he was beheaded. He tries not to notice it and Sehun does a good job in covering it up with his clothes but when he’s sat here, his robes sliding off his shoulder, he couldn’t help but see the black marks, dried blood decorated around it.

 

‘You have the ability to see us, which means you can see ghosts… So why haven’t you seen any ghosts roaming around the city? I’m sure statistically, there would be more in the city, right?’, Sehun asks and Kyungsoo didn’t really think about it. He didn’t think of a reason why he can see ghosts, nor did he question the idea and the works of seeing something that is not of this world. He may be thought that the house was haunted and that it was the old mansion’s fault that he can see ghosts, but if that was the case, then Jongin and any other person who enters the house should’ve seen them too, but that’s not always the case.

 

‘That’s true… I haven’t seen ghosts since I moved here’

 

‘That’s because we’re very rare. There’re probably other ghosts around the world but in general, you won’t find many of us. People who die would usually go straight to wherever they belong. Those who did devious things would go to a similar place like hell and those who were noble, and kind went to a similar place like heaven, most humans when their time has come, can be categorised between the two since humans aren’t really as complicated as you make them out to be’

 

‘So how about you guys? What makes the seven of you so special’

 

‘I don’t know’, Sehun shrugs, looking out of the window and leaning his chin on his hands, ‘Maybe it’s our punishment to be in the in between. None of us was noble nor kind in our human lives’

 

Kyungsoo didn’t ask any more question. He found that maybe asking about their death wasn’t something appropriate to have.

 

* * *

 

 

Soon enough, they arrive at the old palace which had been turned into a Museum to celebrate the history of Korea. It has become a tourist attraction so Kyungsoo and Sehun can spot dozens of foreigners and tour guides walking in and out of the palace, taking group photos and selfies of the great walls.

 

‘It would be a crime to come inside the palace without the royals permission’, Sehun comments, standing in front of the familiar home which he once belonged in centuries ago, ‘Now people are coming and going as they please’

 

‘It’s a free Museum’, Kyungsoo comments, patting Sehun on the back and walking ahead of the prince. The palace was well kept as it is, but Sehun noticed the cracks, the washed out paint, the crumbling pillars from the rebellion which smashed half his homes. Kyungsoo and Sehun ended up having to be dragged with a group of foreigners huddled together in a tour guide, following the girl with the microphone telling them stories and facts about the artefacts hung up on the walls or placed on pillars which were encased in glass and guarded up robes to stop people from touching them.

 

‘Now, this is a scroll written by the Crown Prince himself. It’s seen to be his diary at the time…’

 

‘That's not my brother’s… That’s my sister’s’, Sehun whispers to Kyungsoo as they stop in front of an old scroll, encrypted in secret messages that weren’t in Korean or Chinese characters.

 

‘The Crown Prince had the intelligence of creating his own secret writing system which he would send to his siblings. The Royal children would exchange letters when they were apart in these messages’

 

‘That’s all my sister’s ideas. No one wanted to do it in the first place, but we made her cry, so the Crown Prince forced us all to teach her stupid drawing language. Each drawing equal an alphabet’

 

‘It’s such an intricate and detailed writing system, sort of like the Egyptian’s hieroglyphics’

 

‘Intricate my ass. She made it all up within a day’, Sehun scoffs, rolling his eyes as they move onto the next area of the palace to which he remembered was a common room to where anyone can relax and enjoy their day inside. It was mostly governors who use this space to read and chat when the weather outside wasn’t in the best condition. Sehun looks around now at the empty room which used to be covered in silk pillows and blankets for relaxation. There were another set of pillars and painting hung up instead.

 

‘Now this painting is of Princess Seo and Prince Sehun’, the tour guide points at the big painting of two people standing next to each other near a field of grass, the palace behind them.

 

‘Is that really you?’, Kyungsoo whispers to Sehun intrigued to know the real history. He didn’t want to listen to the guide anymore since she had gotten most of the stuff wrong, his eyes looking up and waiting for Sehun to tell him more, intrigued to know the history behind the painting. It was a famous painting, Kyungsoo remembered writing an essay on it.

 

‘It’s one of the few paintings we have that shows the youngest prince. Most of them got burnt down during the rebellion but a few survived, including this one’

 

Kyungsoo looks at the painting closely, trying to decipher the scratched portrait of a man in royal robes. It did look similarly like Sehun. The man in the painting I tall and his skin was pale, nose long and prominent whilst his lips were small and plump.

 

‘Yeah that’s me, but that’s not my sister’

 

‘Really?’, Kyungsoo whispers, shocked as he squints his eyes to see a closer look on the woman standing next to him. She was gorgeous, her long back hair tied in a plait and resting on her shoulder. Her gown was pink and embroiled in spring, sprouting new leaf, ‘Who is that?’

 

‘She was my sister’s court lady. She was one of the youngest, I think no more than fourteen years old’

 

‘What were you doing with a court lady?’

 

‘Her father used to be a governor but was beheaded due to a betrayal of some sort… Anyway, my older brother, the Crown Prince, persuaded my father to let his children live and the son ended up being a soldier in my brother’s army and the girl was given a choice’

 

‘What choice?’

 

‘To become a Gisaeng or my sister’s court lady’

 

‘Oh… Are you talking about Governor Jung? The guy who planned on secretly supporting a new King’

 

‘Yeah’, Sehun nods, the tour moving on to the next artefact, this time Sehun recognised it as one of the Queen’s bracelets she used to wear on special occasions.

‘I heard the girl committed suicide after the knowledge of her father’s death and the son was spared to serve the rest of his life under the Crown Prince’s command. That was their punishment. I heard the son was tortured daily in military… That’s why he became a mouse and spied on the royal family. Most historians think he’s the real mastermind behind the rebellion’

 

‘You mean Yoo?’, Sehun snorts at Kyungsoo’s version of the story, shaking his head in disbelief at what the rest of the world concluded, ‘Yoo would never hurt a soul. Yoo was only sixteen yet my brother treated him like a friend. He never felt alone or rejected because my brother would make sure he was taken care of’

 

‘What? Now that can’t be true… It only makes sense if Yoo was vengeful for you killing his father’

 

‘He was vengeful… For a time. But the Crown Prince had something my father didn’t’

 

‘What?’

 

‘Mercy’, Sehun stops and abandons the tour group who had gone off into the other room. His eyes stop at the portrait of his brother. The painting didn’t match his face, but they did get the beard right and the wat his right eye was a bit slanted due to a hit he received as a child, ‘My father was useless at most things, so it’s understandable that the country wanted him dead… But had they waited for my brother to be crowned king… Things would’ve been a lot different… He was kind and good… He would’ve made a great king’, he continues to look at the painting, wanting to remember the old face which had disappeared due to time. He had always hated himself for forgetting some things, but he could never forget his brother, not the smile on his face as he helps him back on his feet when he falls, not the caring hands which would bandage his knees when he played a little too hard, not the soft voice which calmed him down when the news of the palace walls breached with peasants came to them, ‘Yoo and my brother died protecting us, they died side by side as friends and comrades’

 

‘So… If Yoo wasn’t the spy… Who is? Is it the sister?’

 

‘No… Seo would never do anything to hurt me either. We were friends… She loved my sister too. Like family. She was the one who attempted to help me and my sister’s escape from the palace when we heard that some soldiers decided to join the rebellion, she also lost her life for siding with the Royals’

 

‘So who betrayed you?’

 

‘I don’t know’, Sehun sighs, turning away from his brother’s portrait and moving forward, ‘Till this day, I still don’t know’

 

‘I’m sorry’, Kyungsoo pats Sehun on the back, seeing the pain that these walls were giving Sehun, ‘We should just go to your shrine and leave’

 

‘Yeah, that seems like a great idea’, Sehun sighs, his nose sniffling as he quickly moves and disappears through the walls, leaving Kyungsoo alone, staring at the portrait of the Crown Prince who fell before he can ever rise.

 

* * *

 

 

There are a total of five shrines by the royal gardens. One for each royal. One for the King, one for the Queen and one for the Crown Prince, the Princess and the youngest Prince.

 

‘You each had your own mother?’, Kyungsoo asks as he sees a list of concubines printed in golden plates, but they didn’t have a shrine of their own, just a commemorative plaque next to the king.

 

‘Yeah. My dad had a total of fifteen’, Sehun explains, looking at the plaque and scanning the name, ‘Ah… That’s my mum’, he points to the eighth name, Kyungsoo reading the letters.

 

 

_O_ _Hwa._ _h_

‘Was she nice?’

 

‘She was kind and sweet in raising me, but I never saw her again after I was sent to the main palace at the age of six to go under my training as the prince’, Sehun points out, ‘I barely remember her, but I think she was also kind’

 

‘That’s good’, Kyungsoo nods, passing along the Princess’ Shrine and seeing it covered in flowers, some still fresh whilst others were dead, rotting dark petals, ‘Your sister’s become a historical figure, to say the least… I think it’s because of her paintings’

 

‘Her erotic ones?’, Sehun laughs, ‘Yeah, she’s always been the creative type… It’s a shame they only focus on that, I mean she loves to write too, she used to write stories and send us letters every day, but most of them were destroyed or thought to be my brother’s instead’

 

They finally go to Sehun’s shrine, which was much smaller in comparison and also empty, dusted in the corner and painted in cobwebs.

 

‘No one knows anything about you. My history teacher used to call you the Prince under the shadows… There are even debates made that you never even existed’

 

‘That hurts’, Sehun sighs, reaching out and touching the dusted shrine, seeing the faded paint, ‘But I understand… I was closed off from everyone, the public didn’t see me, the only ever heard of me as the young prince who got everything he wanted. I never had to fight battles like my brother, I never had to come with father and greet our people like my sister… I was just there for convenience. My father’s children from his other concubines would always die at a young age or become stillborn babies… The moment I lived past the age of six, he knew he should keep me in closed walls and with a watchful eye just in case the Crown Prince never came back from the war’

 

Kyungsoo listened to Sehun’s story, intrigued at the shy ghost’s past that was filled with betrayal, lies and deception, a history that have been taken out of context, burnt and buried so that they’re standing here, looking at the old shrine that had not even one visitor out of the millions that come to look at the youngest prince and to feel pity for him. Kyungsoo unzips his bag and places the new clothes he had bought on the shrine, dusting it first and making sure it was inside neatly. The prince’s painting resembled Sehun, but it still felt out of place, as if something was missing in the portrait.

 

‘Oh, thank god it fits’, Kyungsoo turns to look at Sehun, the robes that had weighed him down now gone and replaced with a grey oversized sweater and dark ripped jeans, ‘But I don’t think my shoes go…’, Sehun looks down to find that he was still wearing his royal shoes which were silk and out of place with the denim and sweater.

 

‘Oh… I forgot to buy shoes…’, Kyungsoo sighs, looking down and almost feeling embarrassed that he forgot to buy Sehun some shoes.

 

‘Not it’s fine’, Sehun smiles at him, ‘I’d like to keep a part of my old self with me anyway’, he hugs Kyungsoo, the human feeling the cold touch of the ghost rest on him. Sehun looks much better now and the turtleneck on his grey sweater did a good job in hiding the scarred neck that Sehun was self-conscious of. Sehun looks like a young man in his twenties about to go to University. He looks young again and alive – ironically.

 

 

 

 

 


	4. Four.

 

* * *

 

 

Jongin seems unaware of the town’s whispers about the new boy that moved in recently choosing to bury himself to work as always. To think that the once troublemaker of the town knew the responsible one, making sure not to add fuel into the numerous rumours that were spreading around and it didn’t help when people started to approach him during the morning in the weekends when he’s running errands over at his family’s stall in the farmer’s market.

 

‘Is he nice? I heard that he went to jail’ some of the old Aunties have approached him time and time again, asking about the grandson of Min-young who died recently. There were also rumours of the poor boy being possessed by a spirit since one of them swore he saw the boy talking to himself when he was out grocery shopping to which Jongin can only laugh at.

 

‘Do you think he’s really possessed?’, his sister asks as she looks up from her phone, watching her older brother carrying a box of freshly dug potatoes. She chews her gum and nonchalantly plays with her nails since she’s on selling duty now that holidays have started.

 

‘He’s not. Why would he be?’, Jongin replies, breathing heavily after carrying a load of boxes, sighing as he leans on the counter and reaches his hand out to which his sister automatically grabs a bottle of water and hands it to him, ‘He’s actually quite nice’ he points out, remembering the smile Kyungsoo had on his face when he promised he’d. Help him revive the old strawberry field at the back of the house. It’s been a week since they’ve met up again and he doesn’t know why but he felt the urge to visit the boy who lives by the edge of town again. His little sister, who’s made it a habit to observe her brother, sees the way he would just nod off into space, his habit of daydreaming getting worse.

 

‘Is he cute?’, she asks, looking at the way Jongin smiles at the question – she already knows where this is going. She knows her brother too well.

 

‘He is cute… Very’, Jongin hears his sister making ‘whooing’ noises, turning back to see her smirking at him, hollering at the way he looks whenever he talks about the new boy.

 

‘Is this the old demon coming back from the dead?’, she raises her voice, making Jongin pinch her neck, the two siblings play-fighting each other in the middle of the farmer’s market.

 

‘Kim Jongin! Kim Yura! What are you doing?’ They hear their mum’s voice shouting at them as she approaches the stall with a basket of apples Mrs Yoo had given her this morning. She hits both of them in the head telling them off for making a scene and ordering Jennie to help her step up Mr Ong’s stall since his wife could’ve been there to help him due to her arthritis. Jennie whines, but she still stands up, sticking a tongue out to her mum before running off to Mr Ong’s stall.

 

‘That child…’, Jongin hears his mum sighing as they both look at the way she acts, enthusiastic, loud and bubbly, ‘I blame you for that’, she elbows her son, shaking her head and making Jongin tilt his head in confusion.

 

‘What did I do?’

 

‘She likes following in your footsteps’, she points out, ‘And you were such a trouble maker when you were her age’, she continues, chuckling when Jongin shakes his head in disagreement.

 

‘I was not as bad as her’, he calls out, laughing when his mum just gives him a look before carrying on unloading the basket of apple, refusing to even respond to Jongin. In fact – the whole town can speak for Mrs Kim – Jongin has always been a piece of work. Most of the people he works with now can witness that he has caused them hell at one point, moment where he would set fireworks off in the middle of their field, open the gates and let the cows loose in the middle of the night, get drunk and sleep in the barn with the horses and letting a pig inside Mr Ong’s house at one point too. Jongin has done it all along with his rascal friends during high school.

 

‘Jongin?’

 

Jongin is disrupted from their conversation, turning to see Kyungsoo approaching him with a smile on his face, carrying two plastic bags worth of meat.

 

‘Kyungsoo, how are you?’, jongin smiles, leaving his mum to watch the stall, which didn’t sit well with her as she eyes her son, seeing the way Jongin practically ran to the boy. He didn’t recognise him but it was a small town and she already knew everyone who resides here, so this kid must be Minyoung’s grandson that everyone’s been talking about. She observes him, looking at his face which doesn’t look like Minyoung, but he has her eyes, round and probably curious too. She idly finishes setting her stall, her eyes going over to them once in a while, cautious. She’s not one to believe in such useless rumours, but Min-young wasn’t the most normal of the people who lived in town. She had every worry to look over her shoulder to see his grandson, who, spite not looking like her, reminds her of the old woman who lived in the edge of town.

 

‘What are you doing with that much meat?’, Jongin asks as he looks down to see Kyungsoo holding onto two fairly heavy bags full of meat.

 

‘Oh, you know… Stocking up’, Kyungsoo points out, chuckling since he knew it was absurd for one person to buy this much meat, unbeknownst to the rest of the world that he was actually also feeding another ghost who eats like a fucking cow. But maybe using the excuse of stocking up will take the suspicious scent off.

 

‘I just saw you the other day buying the same amount of meat’, Jongin laughs, ‘How much are you stocking up?’

 

‘Umm… Well… you know… Till doomsday’, Kyungsoo replies to which Jongin laughs, heaving a sigh of relief now that Jongin wasn’t suspicious of him anymore.

 

‘Come, let me introduce you to my mum’, Jongin grabs on Kyungsoo’s hand, unknowingly making the latter blush as he looks down on the floor and bites inside his cheeks to stop himself from smiling, ‘Mum!’, Jongin calls out, waving at her as he stands next to Kyungsoo, still holding his hand as he introduces them, ‘This is Kyungsoo, Minyoung’s grandson’, Jongin smiles and in return, Kyungsoo gives her a small bow.

 

‘Hello Mrs Kim’, he smiles at her, reaching his hand out to shake hers which she reciprocates.

 

‘Hello’, she smiles back, ‘How are you? I heard you’ve been repairing the old house since you got here’, she says, and Kyungsoo can only nod and tell her a little bit about what he’s done with the house. It was awkward, to say the least, having to talk to Mrs Kim like he didn’t know her, but Kyungsoo has heard whispers coming from Baekhyun mostly and Jongdae about the hardship Mrs Kim has gone through, almost being suicidal after the death of her husband. Kyungsoo continues being friendly, pretending not to know about the scars that run up her arm which she covers up from everyone else.

 

‘Oh, I have a present for you’, Kyungsoo remembers, opening one of his plastic bag and pulling out a small box which he also bought whilst roaming, ‘I thought of you when I saw this’, he mentions when he hands her the small box and smiles proudly when he sees her eyes glint in curiosity when she opens it.

 

‘A music box?’, her eyes widen as she looks up to Kyungsoo. She had always had a soft fascination with music boxes. She loves the soft and gentle melody which begins to play once you twist the lever sending you into a moment of calm bliss.

 

‘I thought it looked cute’, Kyungsoo points out, not waiting for her to get too suspicious over his sudden knowledge about her ‘Jongin once mentioned how you liked cute things’

 

‘I did?’, the tall gardener asks, confused when Kyungsoo nods his head as he tries to recall their previous conversation but not remembering at all about mentioning his mum, but how else was Kyungsoo going to know about his mother’s interest unless the knowledge came from him, so he just nods and smiles.

 

‘I love it. Thank you, both of you’, she smiles to both her son and the new boy in town, hugging jongin as she walks back to their stall, placing the small music box next to the till, her eyes never leaving it.

 

‘You didn’t have to get her anything’, Jongin points out, but Kyungsoo just shrugs and tries to play it off cool.

 

‘No it’s okay. I wanted to’

 

‘Well thank you. It’s very rare to see her smile like that again’

 

‘It’s not that hard. Just be nice to her’, Kyungsoo replies to which Jongin faked a shock reaction.

 

‘Are you saying I’m not nice to my own mother?’

 

‘No, all I’m saying is, you can do better’

 

Mrs Kim watches her son with the new kid, smiling fondly at the way Jongin laughed and joked with him, feeling warm to see a sense of her old son coming back, to see the playful glint in his eyes and the warm smile he used to have. It made her feel relieved that Jongin was still capable of being his old self, but whatever she tries to ignore, she couldn’t. There seems to be a dark shadow cast over the new kid and no matter how hard she tries to push it out of her mind, she feels worried that someone as ominous as Minyoung’s grandson could make her son smile like that.

 

***

 

 

‘I told you she would like it’, Baekhyun skips along the road as he walks beside Kyungsoo, the pair of them walking towards their house, with Kyungsoo carrying all the heavy meat and food.

 

Chanyeol is honestly such a blabbermouth for spilling to everyone that Kyungsoo had been feeding his ass secretly at night. Minseok cussed up a whole storm, complaining about favouritism and unfair justice on his part to the point where he broke another set of vases and he was close to almost breaking the hinges off the door. Kyungsoo gave in and promised to feed all of them if they can present to him a picture of themselves whilst they were still alive or an emblem or object of their belonging when they were still alive.

 

It was easy for Sehun since he had secretly kept a Joseon pin hidden in his room that he had treasured and kept since it was his only trace of his sister.

 

Minseok had one of his medals from his uniform which he had buried in the backyard of Kyungsoo’s house digging it up for the first time in decades and throwing the dirty and rusted medal of honour before walking back into the living room.

 

Junmyeon and Yixing both had similar items which they had given Kyungsoo, which was just their fake I.D which Kyungsoo took with judging eyes as he sees Yixing’s fake I.D, faded but he can still see his face but the name next to him was not Yixing’s.

 

‘Lay Park?’, Kyungsoo looks up at the gangster’s lame pseudo, but Yixing just shrugs and leaves Kyungsoo to judge him for all he cares. He’s done worse than make a fake I.D. Kyungsoo then turns to Junmyeon to see him handing a fake I.D too, ‘really? You too? I thought you were a businessman?’

 

‘Which is why I have a fake I.D’, Junmyeon explains, ‘I have dealings which cannot be tied to me or my name’

 

‘Is that supposed to make me respect you?’

 

‘No but accept the I.D and let me eat. It’s been decades since I tasted anything and I’m curious’

 

‘Whatever’, Kyungsoo rolls his head and setting all the objects in the corner of the dining table, the kitchen counter already stuffed with the food Kyungsoo was planning to make which was spicy chicken stew much to everyone’s vote that one by a landslide against spaghetti so Kyungsoo had no choice but to make the harder food, but he didn’t mind since he knew he made a pretty good spicy chicken stew.

 

No one else apparated in the kitchen so he thought that maybe that’s all the ghost that wanted to eat today, so he got to work, opening the plastic which wrapped the chicken wings and legs, counting the spring onions and garlic, guessing how many he needs to feed a household of five for now.

 

‘Ahem’, he hears someone coughing to gain his attention, his eyes turning to a shy Baekhyun standing in front of him. This was an odd behaviour coming from Baekhyun who has always been a loud mouth compared to the rest so Kyungsoo waits for him patiently to talk.

 

‘What do you want?’

 

‘Can I join in for dinner too?’, he asks, looking down on the floor and playing with his long sleeves, his Hanbok long, his long hair tied in a ponytail and pushed back with a blue silk headband which matched his luxurious blue hanbok.

 

‘Yeah, have you got an emblem I can use?’, Kyungsoo asks and he sees Baekhyun’s eyes falling to the ground again, his head hung low and his arms now behind his back as if he was hiding something like a child.

 

‘Does this count?’, Baekhyun asks barely above a whisper, finally revealing what he was hiding behind his back which was a big rock resting on the palm of his hands.

 

‘What is that?’, Kyungsoo raises a questioning eyebrow. He knew it was a rock, but he had no idea why Baekhyun chose that as his emblem. Surely, he’s kept something for himself from when he was still alive something more meaningful than a piece of rock.

 

‘It’s one of the rocks that was thrown at me when I was receiving my punishment’, Baekhyun replies, his voice soft and vulnerable, as if it was about to break any minute and Kyungsoo finally figured out why the ghost was so nervous to ask him.

 

‘You don’t have to be ashamed with how you died’, Kyungsoo responds as he reaches out and accepts the rock, placing it amongst the rest of the emblems given to him ‘Junmyeon and Yixing are both thick skinned with how they died, so don’t worry about it’

 

‘I’m not ashamed of how I died’, Baekhyun corrects Kyungsoo, seeing the rock which will forever be bloodstained to him despite many centuries of him cleaning the rock in every river he passes when his ghost roamed around Seoul before the structure of the industrialised city, cleaning it intently with every fibre of his being, but it seems like the blood refuses to disappear, ‘I was ashamed with how I lived’

 

Kyungsoo hasn’t learnt much about Baekhyun’s past from the ghost himself but from the whispers from the other ghosts that had told him, especially Jongdae the loudmouth that he is, giving him detailed specifics of everyone’s backstory like it was his own. He didn’t know whether Baekhyun was comfortable enough in telling him his story himself so Kyungsoo didn’t push the ghost to do so, smiling at him before going back to cooking.

 

 

***

 

 

‘One game’, Jongdae calls out to Yixing who still had his watch resting inside his pockets somewhere. After seeing Baekhyun give Kyungsoo his rock, it looks like he’ll be the only ghost who won’t be eating anything, and he’d rather die again then for that to happen. Especially when Chanyeol keeps on raving about how good Kyungsoo can cook and it didn’t take them long to be convinced with Chanyeol’s statement, smelling the fresh cooking coming from the kitchen every night.

 

‘No’, Yixing says, turning the page of the newspaper and hearing Jongdae whine for about the fifteenth time.

 

‘I’m fucking starving! Let me eat too!’, Jongdae whines, Junmyeon looks on from the book he was reading, watching the two bickers amongst each other and sighing. This was worse than when Minseok would fight with everyone and that’s saying something.

 

‘This has gone on far too long’, Junmyeon sighs, being the only one to stand up and approach the two.

 

‘Yixing, just let him borrow it. He’s the only one who can’t eat without that’, Junmyeon asks, trying to help with Jongdae but Yixing, the old mobster, just shrugs and waves the pocket watch which was now in his hands, swaying it from side to side, condescending Jongdae who throws him the middle finger.

 

‘Why don’t we play the frying pan game?’, Chanyeol suggests, standing up from the sofa with a kind of excitement in his eyes as of a five-year-old.

 

‘No’, all the other older ghosts say back to him to which Chanyeol pouts and sits back down.

 

‘What’s the frying pan game?’, Sehun asks curiously, over the years and especially when Chanyeol moved in with them, he’d always hear the ghost saying stuff like that, asking them to play the frying pan game or something else like rock, paper, scissors and everyone else seems to keep shrugging it off.

 

‘I wanna play the frying pan game. What is it?’, Baekhyun, being the other century-old ghost, pops up into the living room. Chanyeol smiles when he got two of the oldest ghosts on his side, confidently standing up again and walking over to Junmyeon, Jongdae and Yixing.

 

‘What if we split into two teams? One team for Yixing and one for Jongdae? Whoever wins gets to win the pocket watch for their team leader?’, Chanyeol jumps up excitedly, and both Sehun and Baekhyun follow along, finding it exciting to finally play a game with the rest of the ghosts.

 

‘That doesn’t sound like a bad idea’, Junmyeon points out, turning back to look at Yixing and Jongdae, ‘What do you think?’

 

‘Whatever’, Yixing shrugs, earning a nod from Jongdae who was desperate to get his pocket watch back.

 

‘I’ll be the referee, everyone else gets into a team’

 

 

***

 

Kyungsoo continues to chop of the carrots, finishing up his stew before he hears loud clanking coming from the living room, followed by screaming and another clank. He lowers the heat on the pan before walking into the living room out of curiosity.

 

‘What the fuck is going on?’, he shouts at them when he sees a hot mess in front of him, Minseok trying to choke Baekhyun whilst Junmyeon keeps whistling for them to stop. Jongdae is too busy shouting at Yixing and Chanyeol to hear Kyungsoo and the rest of the ghost was focused on trying to stop the fight.

 

‘You were offbeat! You’re out!’, Sehun squirms underneath Minseok’s tight hold on his neck, ‘You suck at this game!’

 

‘I was not offbeat! You have shit ears!’

 

‘You were offbeat! Junmyeon called it!’, Jongdae shouts, followed by Yixing who started defending Minseok which was followed by his own teammate Chanyeol tugging on his shirt and saying Minseok was indeed offbeat. Kyungsoo didn’t know what they were arguing about, but he didn’t care, he walks back into the kitchen, grabbing an empty pot from the cupboard and a metal spatula before going back into the kitchen and banging loudly on it, garnering everyone’s attention, shouting stopped and all eyes on him again. Minseok’s hands were still wrapped around Sehun’s neck but at least he had their attention.

 

‘What the fuck is going on?’, he shouts at them, ‘Why are you trying to kill each other?’

 

‘Yixing’s team is cheating’, Baekhyun points at the other team, followed by a bellowing outcry from the latter, shouting back at him and pointing fingers.

 

‘I said shut up!’, Kyungsoo shouts again, ‘Who’s cheating and why?’

 

‘We’re playing a game, whoever wins gets to keep the pocket watch’

 

‘The what?’

 

‘Jongdae’s pocket watch’, Junmyeon explains clearer, straightening his shirt, ‘Jongdae wants to win it back so he can eat but Yixing won’t give it back so we’re playing a game to who gets to keep it’

 

‘Are you serious?’, Kyungsoo looks at them, sighing when it looks like they’re pretty serious about the situation, ‘We have a gang member, two businessmen, a fucking General, a royal prince, an idiot and a four-century ghost and you’re all acting like children?’, Kyungsoo tells them off like a mother, a disappointing glare on his face. The ghosts felt awkward, being told off for the first time in decades, they didn’t know how to feel, so they awkwardly just stood there, their eyes hanging low on the ground, Minseok slowly letting go of Sehun, ‘I’ve spent two hours trying to cook for the lot of you and this is how you behave? Do you know how much meat I had to buy today? Huh?’

 

He hears the ghosts murmuring sorry, but he couldn’t keep telling them off since he needed to go back into the kitchen in case he overcooks the stew.

 

‘Yixing, give Jongdae back his watch’

 

‘What? But he didn’t win the game!’

 

‘I was about to!’

 

‘But you didn’t!’

 

‘I said give it back or I’m not giving you food’, Kyungsoo warns the mobster and glaring at the bickering ghosts.

 

‘That’s not fair!’

 

‘Well, my house, my cooking so my rules’, Kyungsoo glares back at Yixing. He stopped being afraid of the ghosts when he realised, he has the upper hand, banging the spatula on the pot when they continue to bicker and argue with him, ‘When I finish my cooking, that stupid watch better be on the table with the rest of them, okay?’

 

 

***

 

Kyungsoo felt like he’s managing an orphanage when he looks across the dining table and sees seven ghosts stuffing their faces, cutlery clanging on plates, Sehun’s cheeks looking like a hamster eating whilst everyone else was silent for the first time since Kyungsoo met them. It feels weird, to say the least, especially since Kyungsoo had spent years eating alone by himself in his small crummy apartment.

 

‘This shit is the bomb’, Jongdae comments, his pocket watch sitting soundlessly inside his pockets, Yixing still glaring at him from time to time when he reaches out for the serving spoon to see his stupid smug face after he was forced to hand him back the watch. His pride was tarnished when he had to make a choice whether to keep the watch or to ear and he knew he wasn’t going to live it down, especially when Minseok started laughing at him,

 

‘Thanks’, Kyungsoo smiles, receiving his first compliment since the other ungrateful deadasses were too busy still eating. He was about to ask the rest how his food was when he hears knocking on the door, forcing him to leave the seven ghosts in the dining room, walking over to the front door to see Jongin standing. It was already night and the air was cold once he opened the door, his eyes landing on the gardener with a shocked expression on his face.

 

‘Hey’, he smiles at him, holding a foiled plate to which Kyungsoo immediately looks down on.

 

‘Hey’, Kyungsoo returns the greeting, ‘What are you doing here?’

 

‘Well, I was thinking about how big your house is and it made me think… It must feel kinda lonely eating here by yourself so…’

 

_Fuck._

 

Kyungsoo couldn’t help but feel his heart leap at the thought of Jongin coming over with his own food just to eat with him but then he remembered that there were seven pigs currently in his dining room right now and he didn’t know what to do with the situation. He wasn’t going to reject Jongin, the poor boy travelled all the way here in the night just to be with him – plus, he didn’t want to reject Jongin.

 

‘Uh… Do you want to join me for dinner then?’, Kyungsoo offers, swinging the door open and smiling when he spots Jongin breaking out into a grin.

 

‘I would love to’

 

‘Come in and wait for a second in the living room… I just need to get some extra plates’, Kyungsoo is bullshitting on the spot as he walks Jongin over to the living room, sitting him down on the sofa.

 

‘No, it’s fine, I have a plate here already-’

 

‘Nope’, Kyungsoo interrupts him when he tries to stand up and walk with him to the kitchen. ‘You’re my guest’, he smiles before opening the kitchen door and banging the door instantly so Jongin couldn’t see anything. He turns to look at the seven ghosts who were still eating.

 

‘Who was it?’, Baekhyun asks after serving himself another spoonful of food.

 

‘It was Jongin and he said he wanted to eat dinner here’, Kyungsoo tells them, running up to the dining table and urging them all to stand up, ‘I need you guys to leave and take your plates upstairs’, Kyungsoo commands, cleaning the spills of food on the table and earning him a groan of complaints.

 

‘Why?’

 

‘Because Jongin is coming in and what I don’t want him to think is I serve random seven plates on the dining table whilst I eat dinner. He’s going to think I’m crazy’, Kyungsoo tells them, rushing around and clapping his hands together for them to make a move on and evaporate already.

 

‘Gosh, I didn’t know you want Jongin’s dick that badly’, Minseok whispers, grabbing himself another spoonful of serving on his plate before disappearing. The rest of the ghosts who hard starts laughing at Kyungsoo, noticing just how frantic and flustered the boy gets whenever he’s around the gardener.

 

‘I knew you’d like him’, Baekhyun smiles before disappearing and one by one, each ghost disappears, leaving Kyungsoo with an empty table and a massive pot, almost too massive, in the middle of the table.

 

 

***

 

‘You eat this much?’, Jongin looks at the pot of stew, shocked at how much Kyungsoo has made for himself as he set down his small plate of fried chicken which doesn’t look much compared to Kyungsoo’s dinner.

 

‘I’m a hefty guy’, Kyungsoo laughs, scratching the back of his neck as he awkwardly tries to make up a lie, but everyone who can see Kyungsoo’s small figure knows he can’t eat all of that in one go, but Jongin, being someone who doesn’t push himself too much into people’s business just smiles and chuckles back.

 

‘I guess my chicken isn’t much of an offering now’

 

‘No, I was feeling some chicken too’, Kyungsoo reaches out for a chicken leg, smiling at Jongin as he takes a bite. They share a moment of laughter and Kyungsoo couldn’t help but look at Jongin, seeing the friendly gardener willing to spend time with him despite what everyone was saying about him. He knew the whispers around town, how could he not? The odd stares were something new to him, living in the city, everyone minded their own business and got on with their day, but he supposed in a small town like this, not much goes on so they latch onto the juiciest news and feast on that.

 

‘He’s a little cunt’, he hears someone talking which wasn’t Jongin since the boy was eating his food. He looks to his side to see Minseok sitting beside him all of a sudden. He glares at the General, giving him a warning look but he continues to stay in his place, not listening to Kyungsoo as always. He’s always been a ghost that doesn’t like Kyungsoo and shows it when he picks up a fried chicken. Kyungsoo prays that Jongin doesn’t look up to see the chicken floating in mid-air.

 

 _‘You better stop’,_ he mouths at Minseok, hoping the ghost got the memo, but the ghost refuses to even look at him, munching on the chicken and rolling his eyes back.

 

‘This is some good shit’, Minseok moans out in pleasure, biting into the chicken again, ‘It looks like the cunt learnt how to cook’, he comments, chewing with his mouth open, ‘Last time I saw came in contact with him, he was setting fireworks inside barns’

 

‘Leave him alone, Jongin is a good kid’, it seems like all ghosts decide to fuck Kyungsoo’s commands since Junmyeon appears into the dining hall too, walking over and peeking at Jongin, ‘He’s a good lad’

 

‘Good my ass’, Minseok rolls his eyes. Kyungsoo quickly grabs the chicken bones from Minseok’s hands and drops it on his plate as soon as Jongin looks up.

 

‘So, what did you do before moving here? I’m sure it was a struggle to leave the city’

 

‘Not really’, Kyungsoo shrugs, ‘I was trying to make ends meet with odd jobs. It didn’t really fit me well’

 

‘Really?’, Jongin asks, curiosity in his eyes, ‘I always imagined countless of possibilities in the city’

 

‘The cunt has always wanted to get out of this small town’, Minseok unnecessary side commented, Kyungsoo trying to ignore him, but the General was sitting right next to him.

 

‘Only if you’re rich’, Kyungsoo replies bluntly, ‘Not everyone is given the same opportunities’

 

‘Huh’, Jongin responds, looking down at his food, but there was still a small smile on his face, ‘I still would like to try’

 

‘Why don’t you?’

 

‘I’m not you. I’m not brave enough to pack my bags and leave everything behind’, Jongin chuckles and Minseok laughs along with him, a long hearty laugh which got Kyungsoo flinching at how loud it was.

 

‘Him? Brave? Kyungsoo’s also a cunt’

 

‘Do you mind?’, Kyungsoo turns to whisper to Minseok, shoving his sides.

 

‘Did you say something?’

 

‘No, no I didn’t’, Kyungsoo changes his expression to a warm smile when speaking to Jongin.

 

‘What a fake cunt too’, Minseok whispers, disappearing from Kyungsoo’s side and finally leaving him alone.

 

 

***

 

 

‘What do you think they’re talking about?’, Sehun asks, the remaining ghosts taking comfort in one of the bigger guest rooms on the third floor, Jongdae laying on the bed and reading a book, ignoring the kids who were murmuring to themselves about Kyungsoo.

 

‘Do you think Jongin came here to ask Kyungsoo out?’, Chanyeol asks, Sehun squirming like a kid, excited at the thought that Kyungsoo might be going out on a date with someone. He wondered if Kyungsoo would allow them to tag along.

 

‘God, wouldn’t it be amazing to date Kim Jongin?’, Baekhyun joins in, the three of them giggling amongst themselves like a bunch of school kids. Jongdae looks over at them, sitting on the floor cross-legged and rolls his eyes.

 

‘Look at them. You’d think two out of the three are actually older than us’, Jongdae comments, going back to his book and turning the page, Yixing joining him as he sits on the bed, shuffling his playing card whilst looking out of the window.

 

‘It’s late. Too late for Jongin to be walking over and asking to join dinner’

 

‘You know the kid. He only eats during midnight anyway’, Jongdae now turns to Yixing. The two aren’t fighting as much now that Jongdae’s pocket watch are now back in his possession. Junmyeon and Minseok had disappeared to the other side of the house since the room was getting stuffy, leaving Jongdae and Yixing to babysit the kids, hoping they won’t make any noises that might force Jongin or Kyungsoo to come up to check.

 

Baekhyun pushes Chanyeol after the skinny ghost says something that they couldn’t hear, the three continuing to laugh amongst themselves.

 

‘I wonder how Chanyeol could lose weight as a ghost’, Yixing asks, observing the three ghosts but noticing the boy wearing the oversized Star Wars shirt and baggy sweat pants, something that he had to tie with a rope because it didn’t fit him anymore.

 

‘It’s his punishment’, Jongdae responds, closing his book. The windows were closed but the air is still cold, the tension rising as the atmosphere realises their presence and unwelcome them, the moonlight gazing down to show their translucent skin, fading from reality but being pinned down as if something was tying them back to the threads of this world.

 

 

 

 


End file.
